


Doki Doki Gang Violence!

by Maxiobe



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangs, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Canon Protagonist is a Minor Character, Gangs, Gen, Graffiti, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Graphic Violence, also the violence is definitely in there it just isn't descriptive for the sake of a pg rating, tbh they arent even actually a gang they just fuck stuff up occasionally
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 20:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 41,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13911864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxiobe/pseuds/Maxiobe
Summary: In which Monika accidentally forms a gang through a couple acts of violence and rule-breaking that were completely, totally, 100% out of her control. (And then, as typical high school drama escalates, proceeds to commit more partially-accidental acts of violence and rule-breaking but now with three other people.)By the time realize that they're making a mistake, they've also realized that charges for Class B felonies may or may not be something they need to worry about.





	1. Chapter 1

Monika isn’t one to break rules very often.

Emphasis on  _ very often _ .

Well, okay, she almost never does. She already has high grades and a good record with teachers; the idea of screwing all that up in one go is usually enough to stop her from getting involved in anything. 

That would probably explain why she’s so nervous as she stands in front of the wall separating the school backyard with the alleyway behind it, spray paint can in hand and heart in her throat.

She uncaps the can and, after another moment of consideration, spray paints a large heart on the wall. The bright green paint stands out against the other faded scrawls and a small smile upturns the corners of her mouth. Her heart is thudding but it’s not in a bad way anymore. Now all she has to do is leave before anyone sees her — 

“Pretty!” 

Monika jumps a good four inches in the air and turns to see another girl in her class heading up, looking at the graffiti with a grin. She watches apprehensively as the girl looks at the wall; after a moment, she looks over to Monika, as if remembering she’s there.

“Oh, right — Hi! I’m Sayori,” she introduces herself. Monika smiles.

“Monika.” She tilts her head slightly. “We had Geometry II together last year, right?”

“Yeah! Er, I think.” Sayori pauses, thinking. “I don’t remember anything from that class,” she laughs, somewhat sheepishly. 

_ That’s right. _ Monika had forgotten but, now that the topic came up she remembers how head-in-the-clouds Sayori always seemed — most of the time she either stared off into space or talked the ear off of whoever was sitting next to her about something completely unrelated to whatever was going on. For the most part, Monika hadn’t really talked to her enough to form a strong opinion on her.

Sayori continues on and Monika tunes back into what she’s saying. “...or the teacher, but he didn’t like me much and I couldn’t really do anything about it, y’know?”

“I know what you mean,” she agrees, completely unsure what the other girl means but evidently supposed to sympathize. 

“You’re probably gonna get in trouble for this,” Sayori says without much reprimand, looking back to the wall. “It’s nice! But the school may not think so.”

“Let’s hope they like hearts, then,” Monika replies, trying to ignore the rush of nervousness Sayori’s comment gave her. She grins. “Want to give it a try?”

“Ah, I shouldn’t,” Sayori giggles unconvincingly. Monika raises an eyebrow and holds out the paint can. Sayori hesitates before taking it, smiling mischievously. “Okay, how about I…”

She shakes the can for a moment before painting a smiley face a couple feet away from the heart. After spraying a circle around it, she turns to Monika with a grin like a child breaking the rules for the first time.

“I get it now!” She exclaims. Monika tilts her head.

“Get what?”

“Why you do this! It’s like a part of you is gonna be here forever, long after graduation.”

“Ah, I don’t think it’s  _ that _ permanent,” Monika laughs. Sayori rolls her eyes.

“You don’t know that. This old graffiti here could be from forever ago.”

“I guess you’re right,” Monika says, partially just to humor her. “I guess my legacy here is set, then.”

“Doesn’t have to be,” Sayori hums. “You could always do something bigger. Like a bigger spray-painting!”

Monika can’t help but think how every passing moment is just proving more and more how head-in-the-clouds Sayori is.

(Or high. Now that she thinks about it, it’s not  _ entirely  _ unlikely.)

She snaps back to reality at the sound of the spray paint can again to see that Sayori is painting a couple of small flowers around the heart and smiley face. 

“Nice touch,” she comments. Sayori grins again and passes the can back.

“Thanks,” she laughs. “This is fun!”

“Well, I’m not doing it for nothing,” Monika says jokingly. Sayori sticks out her tongue. 

“How often do you do this? Did you do the other graffiti around here?”

“Ah, I don’t really do a whole lot of this type of thing. Usually not my type of thing, you know?” Monika says. “I just wanted to try something new out.”

“Oh, you should do it more, though! It’s nice.”

If someone had told Monika yesterday that some spacey girl she had class with once would be encouraging her to continue vandalize school property after spray-painting once, she wouldn’t have believed a word of it. It occurs to her that she needs to stop expecting anything to go the predicted way when she decides to go off-track and break the rules for once.

“Hm, maybe. I guess I just, like, don’t wanna be known as the person who vandalizes, y'know?”

“You won’t if you don’t get caught,” Sayori says slyly. Monika opens her mouth to respond but someone behind them calls out before she can.

“Hey!”

They both whip around to see a guy in their grade that Monika doesn’t know very well walking up to them. Sayori grins.

“Hey! You didn’t leave me!”

“Yeah, because you sent me seven texts saying you were going back here and that i should wait up,” He scoffs. His eyes trail over to the wall. “Are you guys spray painting stuff?”

“Nooo,” Sayori giggles. She turns back to Monika as the other guy starts walking away. “Bye! I’ll see you around!”

“Bye,” Monika laughs as Sayori hurries to catch up with her friend. She watches her go for a moment before turning back to the wall.

Maybe breaking the rules once in a while isn’t  _ entirely _ a bad idea.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika meets one of Sayori's friends.

**_7:48 a.m._ **

**Unknown number: Hello?**

Monika sets down her bag next to her chair and picks up her phone. She hesitates, half wondering if she should just ignore the text, but after a moment decides to respond.

**Monika: who is this?**

**Unknown number: It’s Sayori lol I got your number from Rory**

**Unknown number: I was going to text you last night but I fell asleep (´ ▽ ` ;)**

**Monika: oh hi!**

Monika saves Sayori into her contacts. On second thought, she isn’t quite sure how even Rory got her number, but before she can think about it any more the warning bell rings indicating classes begin in 10 minutes. After a moment, she gets another text from Sayori.

**Sayori: Oh shoot school starts soon doesn’t it**

**Monika: yeah, the warning bell just rang**

**Monika: you aren’t here yet?**

**Sayori: Aaa no I’m just getting dressed**

**Monika: gosh**

**Sayori: I gotta go sorryyyyy**

**Monika: talk to you later !**

Monika puts her phone back down and turns to the front, somewhat bewildered as to exactly how disorganized people could be. She doesn’t _dislike_ Sayori — on the contrary, she could see them becoming friends fairly quickly — but the lack of efficiency isn’t something she’s used to seeing.

(Or the usage of weed or whatever. She really isn’t certain but still hasn’t ruled out the possibility.)

On the board, there’s instructions written for when class begins. Monika sighs and, after a moment of hesitation, opts to begin the work early.

 

Class goes by quickly and before she knows it the bell is ringing again. She packs up and leaves in a slight hurry (because of course her History teacher always just _has_ to start class early, doesn’t he?). She half wonders if Sayori ever made it to school on time — she doesn’t have many classes with her, so she really doesn’t have any way of knowing — but decides that that’s not really top priority at the moment. She has a quiz next class and, though she knows the material well enough that she isn’t _too_ worried, she can’t help but wish she had studied for a little longer than only 20 minutes or at least —

Something collides into her and she startles. She looks up in time to see a flash of purple hair and a couple of things falling to the ground.

“Ah, sorry, sorry!” someone says.

“No worries,” Monika says, bending down to help them pick up what fell. She retrieves a book with an ominous-looking eye symbol on the front and catches a glimpse of something metallic, but before she can do anything the person picks it up and stuffs it into their bag. She straightens up and hands them the book.

“Th-thank you,” they stutter, taking it back quickly. Now that they’re standing up, Monika can see them better; it’s a tall girl in her year that she recognizes from a couple of classes but had never really talked to. The girl clutches the book to her chest and lowers her head, fixating at some point on the ground. “I’m really sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going. I really hope I didn’t cause any inconvenience.”

“Really, it’s fine,” Monika reassures her. The other girl (Monika tries to remember her name but it’s escaping her) shifts nervously for a moment and glances around before nodding at her and hurrying past again. Monika watches after her for a moment, somewhat bewildered.

She completely, truly, genuinely cannot tell the difference between odd and high.

Maybe she’s the odd one. Maybe she’s the _high_ one. She tries to focus back on History.

“...on the wall in the back alleyway.” She overhears a couple of teachers chatting by the library door and slows down to listen.

“Can the school do anything about it?” The other asks. “Is it considered school property?”

“I don’t think so, but if it was a student that did it there’ll no doubt be property damage charges. Probably in-school punishments, too.”

Monika hurries ahead as the other teacher nods, heart thudding. After she bumped into the other girl she doesn’t want to text to Sayori and end up late to class, but she makes a mental note to let her know later what she heard.

(Not that she cares. Not that it _matters_. She’s not going to get in trouble, of course. Probably.)

 

“I know you’re the one who graffitied the back wall.”

Monika looks up as someone sits down across from her at the library table she’s at. It’s a pink-haired girl that looks small enough to be a first year, leaning back in her chair. Before she has a chance to reply, there’s the _bang_ of the library door swinging open and someone runs in.

“ _Natsuki, nooooo!_ ”

Sayori comes running towards them, drawing a couple looks from other students and a glare from the librarian; oblivious to the attention she’s drawing, she reaches the table and leans forward it, panting.

“ _Shh_ , we’re in a library,” the pink-haired girl, who’s apparently named Natsuki, hisses. “And aren’t you supposed to be in gym right now?”

“Gym can wait! I have to choose the greater good!” Sayori proclaims loudly, sitting down next to Monika. Natsuki shushes her again before turning to Monika as if waiting for a response.

“How did you know?” Monika asks, somewhat taken aback. Natsuki rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know how more people _don’t_ .” She begins ticking off reasons on her fingers. “Sayori has green paint splattered on her sleeve. She wandered off after something-or-other into the back alley yesterday after school. She was going on about how she wanted to take Street Art next year at lunch _._ She—”

“Stop, stop!” Sayori exclaims. “I never said I did it!”

“Well, yeah, but you obviously did.”

“How’d you figure it was me too, then?” Monika asks in a lowered voice.

“Sayori was being obvious about it,” Natsuki answers bluntly. “She mentioned you had spray paint a couple times while she was going on at lunch.”

“Stoooop,” Sayori groans. “Please don’t rat us out!”

“What?” Natsuki pouts, looking somewhat offended. “I’m not a snitch! It’s kind of insulting that you think I’d tell.”

“Sorry, sorry! But why’d you get confrontational, then?”

“I’m not getting — you know what? If you want to be here for this, fine.” Natsuki turns back to Monika. “Look. I usually don’t like doing this kind of thing, but… to cut to the point, I’m not going to try to stop you from doing spray paint and whatever, but if Sayori bugs you about it _please_ don’t let her go overboard with this.”

“Overboard?” Monika and Sayori say at the same time. Sayori frowns.

“Hey, I’m not gonna go ‘overboard’! I’ve only done it once!”

“Don’t act like you weren’t going to try doing it again,” Natsuki mutters. “I don’t wanna have to put up with you if you go through some stoner-vandalist phase — no offense,” she adds, glancing towards Monika. “She’s practically already a stoner.”

“None taken,” Monika says quickly.

“C’mon, it isn’t a big deal! You don’t need to…”

Monika shifts awkwardly as the other two bicker. Sayori seems to be trying to avoid a full-on fight while still defending herself, while Natsuki counters with (arguably sensible) points. Neither one is really getting anywhere, though, so it ends up just being a back-and-forth of opposing viewpoints.

This is Monika's punishment for breaking the rules. She’s sure of it. She’d never break the rules ever again if it meant avoiding situations like this in the future.

Natsuki, evidently wrapping up her argument, turns back to Monika. “Nice meeting you,” she says curtly. “Sayori, go to gym, for the love of god.”

“Ugh,” Sayori groans. “ _You_ go to gym.”

“If you hurry you can probably still get there early enough that you aren’t marked late,” Monika says. “They’re probably still changing.”

“Nooooo.”

“Come on, I'll walk with you.” Natsuki stands up, tugging at Sayori’s sleeve until she reluctantly follows her lead. “I don’t have much work anyways.”

Sayori huffs. “Bye, Monika,” she says hesitantly, trailing behind Natsuki as the other girl begins heading towards the door.

“Bye,” Monika echoes amusedly. Natsuki pauses, then doubles back a few steps to the table.

“Let me know the next time you decide to vandalize stuff,” she says in a slightly hushed voice. “I mean — so I can stop Sayori from tagging along with you, of course. Just get my number from her or something.”

“Gotcha,” Monika says. Natsuki nods and starts back after Sayori again.

Monika can’t quite seem to decide how to feel about her growing number of vandalism-encouraging acquaintances, but she finds herself smiling as she waves after the other two nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love natsuki sm


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika does her best trying to be friendly to a couple other people Sayori knows (thus causing several awkward silences and pauses).

The next week passes without much significance, for the most part. There isn’t further word on the graffiti and Monika assumes the coast is likely clear for at least the time being; she’s much too nervous to try it again, though.

She chats with Sayori much more frequently. She’s almost baffled by how  _ social _ the other girl is — Monika had never made friends with people very quickly (she almost always did in the end but it was the getting there that sometimes took a while), but Sayori is so bubbly that it’s hard to  _ not _ become friends with her. 

Natsuki seems to be making an effort to become closer as well, although she seems less sure of how to go about it. She had been sitting closer to Monika during study hall and occasionally asking questions about homework for certain classes; Monika doesn’t know her very well, but from what she’s pieced together between the conversation with her a couple days ago and the little she’s heard about her from Sayori, it’s at least something of an attempt on her behalf. 

“Do you have Smith for History?” Natsuki asks one Wednesday during study hall, frowning down at the packet in front of her. 

Monika looks up from her laptop. “Mm-hmm!”

“When’s the Post-War Reconstruction packet due?”

“Um,” Monika says, finding herself uncertain as well. “I can check, just a second.” She pulls her agenda out from her bag and flips to the page for the current week, then to the one for the next week. “It’s due Monday.”

“Thanks.” Natsuki throws a last disdainful look at the paper before sweeping it aside and pulling her computer closer. “I just don’t get why he stands up there talking about nothing related to the topic during classtime and then goes and assigns us a ton of work to do when we could just be doing it in class.”

“I know, right?” Monika replies. “I mean, I get that he’s, like, laid-back and all, but he really doesn’t plan lessons very thoroughly.”

“Exactly! It’s like he doesn’t even —  _ hey! _ ”

Monika looks over to see Natsuki leaning over to pick up a binder that a passing group of boys knocked off the table (and not accidentally, judging by their snickers). 

“Fuck off!” Natsuki hisses. The guys burst into laughter and she throws the binder back onto the table with a loud  _ thud _ . “ _ Ugh _ .”

Monika shifts in her seat, unsure of what to do. Natsuki grits her teeth for a moment, lips pressed tightly together as she glares down at the binder.

“God!” She huffs. “I  _ hate  _ guys like them! They’re just… ugh, it’s like they get this power trip from picking on whoever they can so they can feel better about their own  _ failures _ even if they can’t even—” She clenches her fist, abruptly cutting herself off. She’s quiet for a moment before speaking up again. “Sorry. I’m not trying to rant, I’m just… I’m just having a bad day.”

“It’s okay,” Monika says quickly, somewhat taken aback by the sudden outburst. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s okay, I’m just — I’m just being stupid.” She takes a deep breath. “Thanks, though.”

“Yeah, um, no problem.”

A slightly awkward silence fills the air as they both return to their work. Monika keeps glancing over to Natsuki to see if she’s okay and, for the most part, seems to have calmed down a bit despite still looking somewhat aggravated. Monika’s eyes wander around the library; most people are either chatting with friends or doing work, but she catches a glimpse of the same group who knocked the binder off the table as they sit down in the armchairs at the back. A girl who had sitting there reading stands up almost immediately, and as she turns to get her backpack Monika realized it’s the same purple-haired girl she had bumped into a few days ago. The girl shoots them an irritated look as she swings her bag over her shoulder, then looks around the library for another place to sit. Monika turns back to her computer as she starts over towards their table.

“Um, is anyone sitting here?” The girl asks. Natsuki looks up as the girl reaches the empty seat next to her.

“No, it’s all yours.”

“Thank you.” Monika glances at her as she pulls out the chair and sits down she meets her eyes; there’s a flash of recognition and the girl quickly looks away, flushing slightly. 

Natsuki, oblivious to what’s happening, reaches down to grab a book out of her backpack. The purple-haired girl (whose name Monika  _ still _ can’t remember) seizes the opportunity.

“Oh, what book is that?”

“Parfait Girls volume 7 chapter 4. Why, do you an problem with it?” She adds defensively.

“Ah — no, no! I was just curious,” the girl says quickly. Natsuki raises an eyebrow but doesn’t press her further.

“What’re you reading?” she asks instead, nodding towards the book the girl is still holding. 

“It’s called the Portrait of Markov! It’s, um, it’s a bit long but it’s a good read.”

“Hm. I was never one for novels like that but maybe I’ll give it a try.”

“Definitely. It may be a bit far from manga but it’s worth checking it out.”

“I mean, I can read things other than manga,” Natsuki says slightly indignantly. 

“I — I know! It was just, um, just an observation,” Yuri says hastily. Natsuki still looks a bit ruffled but seems to choose not to persue the matter. 

This silence is even more awkward than the one from before. Monika considers leaving and/or faking her death but neither seem to be a particularly realistic way of getting out of the situation at this point, so she instead grits her teeth and practically feels herself shrinking from the tension in the air. 

“Heyyy!”

Monika doesn’t think she’s ever been happier to see anyone than when she sees Sayori heading up to the table. The other two look up as well and Natsuki frowns.

“Gym, Sayori,  _ gym. _ You’re going to fail.”

“Um,  _ no _ , actually!” Sayori counters cheerfully. “We finished early because the teacher didn’t feel well.” She sits down in the last empty seat, next to Monika. “Oh, hi Yuri!”

“Oh, hi,” the purple-haired girl (whose name is apparently Yuri) responds, looking up from her book. 

“You guys all know each other?” Sayori asks excitedly. Monika looks around at Natsuki and Yuri as they all shrug hesitantly.

“Not really,” Natsuki says. “We just ended up sitting together.”

“You’d all get together so well, though! Hmm.” Sayori scratches her chin for a moment, thinking. “Oh! I know! What if we formed… a club?”

A chill runs down Monika’s spine as the smell of paper fills her senses for a moment. “I think my schedule is a little too full for that,” she says quickly. “Lacrosse practices and all that.”

“Oh,” Sayori says. “Well, people don’t need clubs to be friends! You all have study together, so there’s that!”

Monika is no longer relieved Sayori showed up — at least it isn’t as tense, but  somehow the awkward situation she had unknowingly put them into is worse. 

Natsuki, who seems to be thinking along the same lines, shrugs and glances at Yuri and Monika. “Sure,” she says, evidently just to humor Sayori. 

“Yay!”

Monika speaks up again before there can be yet  _ another _ silence where no one can do anything except nod and avoid awkward eye contact. “So, uh, how do you and Yuri know each other?” she asks Sayori.

“We were put in a group for an art project. Yuri’s a lot better at it, though,” Sayori giggles. Yuri blushes.

“I’m not — I mean — ”

“You are! Your drawings are so pretty!”

“I, um. Thanks.”

Right as they all lapse into silence and Monika begins to re-consider the possibility of faking her death, the bell rings. Sayori grins.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow! Form friendships!”

Monika laughs and gathers her things. “Bye.”

As she heads out, she half-wonders if it’s even possible to become friends with anyone if you have a third party leading the whole process from the sidelines; Natsuki and Yuri seem nice but Monika can’t help but feel a bit apprehensive as to if things would ever work out.

But then again, she reasons, only last week she would have never guessed she and Sayori could become friends, and she’s quickly been proven wrong. Friendships are the kinds of things where only time can tell how they’ll work out.

She cuts herself off before she gets too sappy; things will either work out or they won’t — one or the other. 

That is, as long as Sayori stays relatively uninvolved (but Monika figures she can only dream).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is lowkey based off real-life experiences and lemme tell u it was just as awkward irl as this one


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sayori decides to get more involved Monika, Yuri, and Natsuki's possible friendship; Monika talks to Yuri more which, when she thinks about it, must be a sign that whatever Sayori is doing must be working at least to some extent.

Sayori doesn’t stay uninvolved when it comes to forming friendships between Monika, Natsuki, and Yuri.

Go figure.

What Monika doesn’t expect, though, is for her to form a group chat. She gets the first message after school on Thursday.

**_3:47 p.m._ **

**_Group: Monika, Sayori, & 2 others_ **

**Sayori:** Hiiii!!!!!!

 **Sayori:** What’s uppp

 **Unknown number (325-...):** Sayori what is this

 **Unknown number (446-...):** If this is another group chat like the art class one, thank you for adding me but I would prefer to stay out of it. I don’t want to get in trouble again for something I was almost completely uninvolved in.

 **Sayori:** Nonono it’s nothing like the art class group chat

 **Sayori:** This one is just for chatting. No criminal activity!!!!!

 **Monika:** we’ll see ;)))

 **Monika:** lol anyways hi sayori! who are the other ppl in this chat

 **Unknown number (325-...):** I’m Natsuki

 **Unknown number (325-...):** Who are u and 446?? σ(￣、￣〃)

 **Monika:** ~monikaaaa~

 **Unknown number (446-...):** This is Yuri.

 **Unknown number (325-...):** Oh you’re book girl right? Purple hair kinda awkward??

 **Unknown number (446-...):** That’s not quite how I would describe myself, but I suppose I could be thought of that way... You’re the girl with the cartoons, right?

Monika saves Yuri and Natsuki’s numbers in her phone before any more messages can come through.

 **Natsuki:** It’s manga!! (#￣︿￣) But yes

 **Monika:** sayori

 **Monika:** not to say im against this chat but why exactly did u make it?

 **Sayori** : Uhhh duh because what better way to make friends than over groupchat?

 **Monika** : hmm

 **Natsuki** : You’re friends with literally like everyone in the school why us

 **Sayori:** Well I guess I could add more people if u want

 **Natsuki** : Pls don’t

 **Yuri:** I was thinking along the same lines as Natsuki. Why us and no one else?

 **Sayori** : I said!! Because u all seem rlly cool and I haven’t known Monika or Yuri for a super long time and Natsuki and I aren’t super close!!!!! I wanna get to know u all better and I want u guys to get to know each other bc it’s great when everyone is friends yknow!!!

 **Sayori:** I mean. We don’t HAVE to use it but I just thought it would be fun!!

 **Monika:** well… i mean i’m ok with it

 **Natsuki** : Idc either way ┐( ´ — ` )┌

 **Yuri** : I suppose it could be… interesting.

 **Sayori:** Yayyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **Sayori:** So what’s up with u guys

 **Natsuki:** Nothing

There’s a long pause where no one else responds and Monika decides to exit and actually get things done; she has math homework and would rather not put it off all night. She pulls out her binder and her phone buzzes.

And again.

And again.

She usually doesn’t resort to Do-Not-Disturb mode but she feels like that’s going to have to be the case with this chat. As she opens her phone again to turn it on, the new messages catch her eye and more are sent as she reads.

 **Sayori:** Sooooooo anyone doing anything interesting

 **Sayori:** Like spray painting

 **Yuri:** I highly doubt anyone here is doing spray painting. It’s not very common at our school.

 **Sayori** : Eheheh

 **Natsuki:** (￣ω￣)

 **Yuri:** Sayori.

 **Sayori:** Yeeeeees?

 **Sayori:** AAAA okokok I did the graffiti behind the school

 **Sayori:** With Monika

 **Monika:** sayoriiiiiii

 **Natsuki:** HAHA SUCK IT I already knew this isn’t news to me

 **Monika:** aaaaaaa WOW we did not last very long with the whole ‘no criminal activity’ thing!

 **Sayori:** This isn’t criminal activity it’s speaking about something that’s vaguely illegal but not rlly

 **Yuri:** Nope, graffiti is illegal.

 **Monika** : oKAy i have homework to do so i’m gonna leave on this note

 **Monika** : i’ll be back later yall✌️

 **Sayori:** Byeeeeeeeeeee

 **Natsuki:** Waitso what exactly did u guys spray paint? I never heard the deets

 **Natsuki:** Rlly I wouldn’t care care ofc but i mean i’ve gotta year this

 **Natsuki:** ***hear damn it

Monika turns on Do-Not-Disturb before she exits the chat because the moment her phone blows up she’s going to end up leaving the chat and she’d rather not be that type of person.

Criminal activity — The thought makes her almost nervous but if Sayori decides it’s a good idea she supposes she’s better buckle in.

 

“Hey!”

Yuri looks up from her book, startled. “Ah— hello.”

“Sorry, hope I’m not bothering you,” Monika says, sitting down on the bench about a foot away from her. “I feel like we haven’t really had much of a chance to talk in real life so I just wanted to say hi.”

“Oh, yes. The group chat has been our primary form of communication, really, so um… I definitely understand where you’re coming from.” She puts her bookmark in her book and shuts it, placing it in her lap. “In that case, hello, I’m Yuri. But, uh, you already know that, of course.”

“Monika,” Monika laughs. “Nice to meet you.”

“And as to you.”

Yuri doesn’t seem to be particularly good at small talk — or conversational in general — and there’s a pause in conversation. She smiles slightly awkwardly at Monika, looking unsure. Monika smiles back and, after another moment of silence, takes it into her own hand to continue.

“So, Sayori said you two are in an art project together?”

“Oh, yes, we are but I’m… not very good at it…,” Yuri says sheepishly. “She’s nice to work with, though, and her ideas are really quite good… and I definitely appreciate the efforts she goes to to bring people together.”

“Yeah, she’s definitely determined! But I guess it, like, kinda worked because here we are.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Yuri hums. “Ah, did you meet her from the whole… spray paint thing?”

“Uh, yeah, as much as I hate to say it,” Monika giggles. “I was painting the wall and she came over so things just kinda went from there.”

“Hm. I would have guessed that she was the one to initiate it, to tell the truth.” Yuri hesitates. “If you don’t mind me asking, just out of curiosity… why exactly did you spray paint the wall in the first place?”

“Um, it’s kind of stupid, but…” Monika toys with the hem of her skirt. “I’ve always been kind of a, like, goodie-two-shoes and I guess I was just kinda tired of it. Wanted to try something new, y’know? If all goes then I won’t get in trouble but at least it’s still kind of a personal victory.”

Yuri is quiet for a moment and Monika laughs. “Yeah, um, I know it’s stupid — ”

“No, no, I get what you mean. It’s… yeah, I know the feeling.”

They both fall silent for a little while and Monika watches as a few underclassmen kick around a football across the lawn. As the bell rings, Yuri turns to her and Monika looks over.

“Um, I’m glad you came over. It was… nice talking to you.”

“It was nice talking to you too,” Monika says, smiling. Yuri manages a somewhat awkward smile back as she puts her book into her bag.

Maybe it was a good thing Sayori got involved after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika recieves an urgent text from Sayori late at night. Everything goes into a downward spiral from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey just a heads up
> 
> i know it says in the tags but better safe than sorry so... please keep in mind that there's a lot of implications of/references to child abuse in this chapter! feel free to ask for a summary if you can't read the actual chapter

_ 10:44 p.m. _

Monika rubs her eyes, blinking blearily over at the clock on her wall. She’s usually in bed around 10 but she ended up having more homework than expected, so she stretches and begins to stand up from her desk chair.

_ Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. _

She shouldn’t answer, she tells herself. She can just check in the morning, and right now she should probably just—

She turns on her phone. Fuck it.

**Sayori: Monika idk if you have notifications off for the group chat but please check it!!!**

**Sayori: This is actually really serious**

Monika has half a thought to just ignore it, honestly, but something tells her Sayori wouldn’t say it was serious without meaning it. She goes to the chat, where new messages are coming through every few moments, and scrolls up until she reaches the start of the messages from that night.

**_10:21 p.m_ **

**Natsuki:** Guys please please don’t say anything risky in this chat for a little while this is really really important

**Natsuki:** My dad can’t know about the spray paint or anythinf ok

**Sayori:** Is he taking ur phone?

**Natsuki:** I have to gbfd d

**Sayori:** Natsuki??????

**Yuri:** I think her phone was taken.

**Sayori:** Natsuki is it ok to call u

The timestamps show that there’s a pause in messages here for a few minutes, before Yuri sends another text at 10:29.

**Yuri:** Sayori, have you heard any word on Natsuki? Everything is okay on her end, right?

**Sayori:** I haven’t but I’ll let you know I hear anything!!

Monika’s reading is interrupted as a call comes through from Sayori. She answers and holds it up to her ear.

“Hey! I’m still catching up on the group chat, is everything okay?”

“No, everything is not okay! I need you to come over to my house, it’s an emergency!” Sayori exclaims on the other end. Monika frowns.

“What’s going on??”

“I’ll explain once you get here!”

“I, um, okay, just give me a minute and I’ll be over — text me your address!”

“Okay,” Sayori says and hangs up. Monika stands up and, glances around. She grabs a sweatshirt that was hung on her closet door knob — she’s only wearing the base collared shirt of her uniform and it’s a little chilly out — and pulls it on. Sayori’s texted her address which, thankfully, is only a couple blocks from Monika’s house.

For once, Monika doesn’t spend time wondering what she’s getting herself into as she leaves her house.

 

“Okay great, you’re here!” Sayori exclaims, opening only seconds after Monika knocks. “I’m really sorry for dragging you out here but — here, come in, I’ll explain once you’re inside.”

Sayori leads her into her house, through the foyer and hallway into the living room. Yuri and Natsuki are already there, perched awkwardly on the couch and armchair respectively. A large pink scrape Natsuki’s jaw along with several fresh-looking bruises on her arms, and legs catch Monika’s eyes immediately; Natsuki doesn’t quite meet her eyes but nods towards her.

“Hi.”

“Oh, hello Monika,” Yuri says. Sayori sits down in the other armchair and Monika settles down on the couch next to Yuri.

“What, um, what happened?” Monika asks. Natsuki is the first to speak up.

“My dad happened,” she says dryly, but there’s a distinctive waver in her voice. Monika’s heart sinks. “I’m staying with Sayori for a little while.”

“Oh,” is all she can say. Natsuki purses her lips and nods. 

“I’m, um,” Natsuki starts. Her voice is uncharacteristically quiet, her usual tough façade dropped. “I’m really, really sorry to drag you guys out here like this but I just really need to be… around people and my other friends aren’t good  _ at all  _ with this kind of thing.”

“Don’t apologize,” Yuri says insistently. “This isn’t your fault. I’ll be okay with staying as long as you need and I’m sure Monika would say the same.”

Monika can see her surprise reflected in Sayori and Natsuki’s expressions — she wasn’t expecting Yuri to be  _ unsupportive _ , of course, but she’d never heard her speak so clearly or surely. Yuri sees their expressions and shrinks back somewhat but doesn’t say anything else.

“Thank you,” Natsuki says quietly. “It… um, it means a lot.”

There’s a heavy silence. Monika glances around the room; Sayori keeps looking over worriedly at Natsuki, whose gaze is trained on the coffee table in the middle of the room; Yuri is scratching at the inside of her forearm through her sweater absentmindedly, looking nervous. A thought pops into Monika’s head and she takes a moment before speaking.

“Natsuki.” Natsuki looks up. “Um, are your things still at your house?”

Natsuki nods but Sayori speaks up before she can say anything. “It’s okay, it’s okay, she can just borrow my clothes and stuff for the time being!”

“I’ll… I’ll go back and get what you need if you want,” Yuri offers. Natsuki looks at her like she’s sprouted another head.

“What? My dad is still home. Even if he’s asleep by now I don’t… want you taking the risk…”

“I, um, I can sneak in.”

“I could go too,” Monika offers. Sayori nods in agreement.

“Yeah! We could get in and out in five minutes and he wouldn’t know a thing!” 

Natsuki takes a deep breath. “I’m coming, then. I know how to get in quietly and I know where everything is.”

“Natsuki,” Yuri says hesitantly. “I’m… I’m sorry, but do you think it’s the best idea to be taking this risk at a… a time like this?”

“This isn’t the first time this has happened, you know,” Natsuki mutters. “I’ve gone through this kind of thing before. I’ve never had to go back to get stuff because I never stayed away that long but…”

Sayori sits forwards in her chair. “Okay, but you’re getting out first if anything happens.”

Natsuki purses her lips. “Fine.”

“Before we go, please wait here for a few minutes,” Yuri says, standing up. “I have to run back to get something, but I live nearby so it shouldn’t take very long.”

“Oh — okay,” Monika says. Yuri smiles.

“Thank you. I’ll be back soon.”

A few moments after Yuri leaves and the door shuts, Sayori stands up and heads out of the room. Natsuki and Monika exchange looks at the sound of footsteps and then things being moved.

“What’s going on?” Natsuki calls.

There’s a few  _ thunks  _ before Sayori’s response comes from somewhere nearby. “I was going to just get a board game for when we wait for Yuri but… do you think we’ll need protection when we go in there?”

Monika winces. She immediately turns to Natsuki to see how she reacts, but Natsuki just rolls her eyes.

“Yeah. Sure.”

They sit in silence as Sayori continues rummaging through whatever it is. Monika frowns slightly.

“Hey, Natsuki… are you doing okay?”

“ _ Fantastic _ .” Natsuki winces and catches herself. “ _ Ugh _ . I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, I appreciate you asking. I’m not okay but kinda getting better.” She signs and leans back in the chair. “Um, like I said, though. This isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s been a while since it was  _ this bad _ because he hasn’t — well don’t worry too much. I’m mostly used to shit like this.”

The last part is a lie and Natsuki seems to tell Monika picks up on it but neither of them say anything.

“Have you called the police? When… things like this happen that’s always a really good step to take.”

Natsuki purses her lips. “I… I will if anything else goes bad tonight, but I’m not going to otherwise.” She frowns. “I was in the foster system before. I can’t go back in.”

An awful silence fills the room. Monika searches for a way to lighten up the mood. After a solid few moments of internal struggle (would asking about manga  _ really _ be a good way to cheer her up?) Natsuki ends up speaking up first. “Was there homework for Smith today?”

“I don’t really think that’s something you need to worry about right now,” Monika says before noticing the small smile on the other girl's face. “Ohh.”

“I don’t even care at this point,” Natsuki says, sounding a little bit like her usual snarky self again. “Him and his dumb History and Post-War Reformation lessons can  _ buzz off _ .”

“That’s the right attitude!” Monika laughs. Sayori steps back into the room, holding a Monopoly box in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.

“Hey, I have a board game! And protection!” She looks around the room. “Yuri still isn’t back?”

“It’s only been a few minutes,” Monika reasons. “I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

Sayori the board game down on the coffee table and sits down on the couch next to Monika, still holding the baseball bat. “So… Monopoly?”

“I don’t think we’ll have time…,” Monika says tentatively. Sayori pouts. 

“Okay, fair, I guess.”

They sit in silence until there’s a knock at the door. Sayori answers and returns with Yuri.

“Hey,” Monika greets her. “What did you need to get?”

Yuri hesitates, then pulls out a pocket knife from her sweater pocket. Sayori’s eyes widen. 

“Woah!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have to bring it if you don’t want to,” Yuri says, addressing Natsuki. “But, um, I just thought that maybe it would be… a good idea to…” She trails off.

“No, it’s okay,” Natsuki sighs. “I mean, if Sayori brings the bat then you may as well have your knife. Monika, do you want to bring anything?”

“No, no,” Monika says quickly, half-feeling like the other two could have thought what they’re doing through a bit more thoroughly. “Ah… What do you need from your house, by the way? That way we can just get it once we get there.”

“Um…” Natsuki ticks off the things on her fingers as she lists them. “The rest of my clothes, my phone, my backpack, and my toothbrush. I keep almost everything else in my locker so there isn’t really anything else.”

“Where is everything?”

“My clothes and backpack are in my room — clothes in the dresser, backpack by my bed — and my phone is… still on the living room floor, I think. Toothbrush in the bathroom. The window we’re going into goes right into my bedroom and the bathroom is right next to it, then the living room is right down the hall.”

“Well, if you’re ready, let’s get going then,” Yuri says, beginning to stand up. “You only live a block or so away, right?”

Natsuki nods and the fear in her eyes almost startles Monika. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  
  


“Natsuki, I think you and Sayori should stay out here for now,” Monika says, hesitating once they reach Natsuki’s house. “I know it’s not entirely my call but— ”

“No, please don’t,” Natsuki says. “I’m going in, too.”

“Natsuki,” Yuri starts, but Natsuki cuts her off.

“If something happens, I  _ really _ won’t ever forgive myself.”

Sayori puts a hand on Natsuki’s shoulder. “Natsuki… I completely understand what you mean but nothing is going to happen! If we stay out here, we can keep watch, and… if anything  _ really _ goes wrong we can go in for backup — catch him off guard! Or just call the police.” Natsuki still doesn’t look convinced but after a moment sighs.

“I… okay. But if you guys aren’t out in  _ five minutes _ I’m coming in there, no matter what. Okay?”

“Okay,” Monika affirms. “You said we’re going through… the first window on the right side of the house?”

“Yeah, the one with the broken lock — right there,” Natsuki says, pointing. Monika and Yuri nod.

“Oh, wait!” Sayori says before anyone can say anything else. She hands Monika the baseball bat (which is a bit heavier than it looks) with a grim expression. “Take this.”

“Thanks,” Monika says, stifling a laugh at how serious Sayori looks about it. “See you soon.”

Monika and Yuri get through the window without much trouble; it’s not too high off the ground so they manage to climb in easily and get inside quietly. There’s the distant sound of a tv from another part of the house and Monika looks around. Natsuki’s room isn’t what she was expecting, exactly — she would’ve thought it would be cuter, like Natsuki herself, but it’s undecorated save for a few figurines along the top of the dresser and the peeling wallpaper is in a dull blue-gray shade. Yuri notices her looking at the little plastic cats on the dresser and nudges her.

“I’m going to go get the toothbrush,” she whispers. “Are you okay with getting the clothes and bag?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Monika replies in a hushed voice. 

“All right. Um, don’t go into the living room just yet to get the phone, though, I’m almost positive he’s in there. I’ll come back and we’ll — we’ll go together.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

Yuri nods and heads silently for the door. Despite how clumsy she is when speaking, she moves surprisingly gracefully, Monika can’t help but notice.

She tells herself to get her shit together and get the bag and the clothes.

Yuri gets back quickly and helps Monika get the clothes out of the dresser; they load them into an empty duffel bag they found which was hanging on the closet doorknob, and Monika takes a deep breath.

“We need to get to the living room qui—”

They both nearly jump out of their skins as the window opens behind them, and they spin around to see Natsuki and Sayori crawling in.

“I  _ told _ you I’d come in here,” Natsuki mutters. “Did you get everything? We need to get going, I don’t know if he’s asleep but if he isn’t we need to boot it.”

“We still need the phone,” Monika whispers. “I’ll go get it, you guys go—”

“No. No way.” Natsuki heads towards the door in a tiptoe. She pokes her head down the hallway for a moment before turning back. “If we all go we can just get it and leave through the front really quietly. I think he’s sleeping by now and if we’re careful we should be able to head out without him waking up.”

They all nod in agreement and, slowly, begin to creep down the hallway. As an afterthought, Monika grabs the bat as they head out.

Monika’s heart is thudding as they reach the living room and peer around the doorway; a man (Natsuki’s dad, she assumes) is sprawled out on the couch, snoring quietly. There are beer bottles scattered here and there. A raunchy show is playing on the TV and Monika averts her eyes, instead searching around to see if the phone is anywhere. She spots it on the floor by the dusty bookshelf in the far corner and grips the baseball bat — it’s a clear path but going for it means she’d have to pass in front of the TV and the couch where Natsuki’s dad is.

Well, fuck it.

“Monika, wait—” Natsuki whispers frantically as Monika darts forward, moving through the room as quietly as she can. She grabs the phone and begins to hurry back when Yuri trips.

It seems like it happens in slow motion.

Yuri’s eyes widen and Sayori and Natsuki both turn as she begins to fall. She catches herself on the coat closet door, which is open ajar.

Monika’s heartbeat practically skids to a stop as the door shuts with a  _ bang _ .

“Oh,  _ fuck, _ ” Sayori mutters as they all turn towards the man.

He snorts, shifts, and  _ that _ ’ _ s _ when the four of them all have the same thought to make a beeline for the front door. Sayori gets there first and struggles with it.

Natsuki’s dad opens his eyes and sits forward. “What the hell?”

“The doorknob is sticking,” Sayori says frantically to the others. Natsuki pushes her aside and grabs it as her dad stands up and hurries over towards the commotion. His movements are clumsy and uncoordinated, but there’s a flash of recognition in his eyes when he sees Natsuki.

“You little fucking —”

Monika swings the bat back without thought and she can feel the others tense as it comes in contact with his abdomen, hard. He staggers back and she shuts her eyes as she swings again.

For a moment, there’s nothing but crude sounds coming from the TV to mask the silence, and then a thud.

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” Yuri breathes.

Monika still doesn’t dare to look but lowers the bat, panting. A hand squeezes her shoulder.

“Monika? Monika, are you okay?”

She finally opens her eyes and looks down to see that he’s lying on the floor in an awkward position. There’s a dark red mark on his jaw that looks like it’s going to bruise and she's almost surprised that she doesn't feel anything at the sight.

“ _ Woah _ ,” Sayori breathes. “Monika, that was, like… that was fucking  _ awesome _ . You just went — like —” She motions, imitating someone swinging something. “‘ _ Wham! Blam!’ _ to his stomach and jaw!”

Natsuki steps forward and looks down at her dad in disgust, before landing a half-hearted kick on his leg and turning back. “He’s breathing.” She shakes her head as if to clear it. “He had it coming to him. Thank you, Monika, watching that might’ve been the highlight of my entire year.”

None of them move for a little while in a stunned silence. Monika looks down at the unconscious man on the floor.

“What about when he wakes up tomorrow?” she asks.

“He’s so drunk that he won’t remember shit tomorrow morning,” Natsuki scoffs. “He’ll probably just assume he got drunk, lost in a bar fight, came home and beat the shit out of me, and then passed out. It happened before,” she adds in a mutter. “Um — here, help me move him onto the couch again.”

It takes a bit of effort — Natsuki’s dad is on the heavier side — but eventually they manage to dump him onto the couch in a convincing enough position. Monika casts a dark look in his direction before picking up the baseball bat and turning to the others.

“Let’s get out of here,” she says, and as they leave the house she knows for certain that things aren’t going to back to normal from here.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group discusses what happened and tries their best to feel normal again.

It’s late when they get back to Sayori’s house; a quick glance at Monika’s phone confirms that it’s nearly midnight. Yuri says what Monika is thinking as soon as they get inside.

“Um, I  _ really _ think we should discuss this as a group, but could we do it tomorrow if that’s okay? It’s getting rather late.”

“I was thinking that, too,” Monika agrees. “Definitely tomorrow though. We can’t not talk about this.”

“Okay,” Natsuki says. “Um, I’m really really sorry for getting you involved in all of this. Thank you again for coming out.”

“Really, it wasn’t an issue,” Monika says. “I’m happy to help.”

“And knock the fuck out of Natsuki’s dad!” Sayori exclaims cheerfully. Yuri nudges her. “What? That was awesome!”

“What, do you curse now that we’re criminals?” Natsuki laughs. Sayori rolls her eyes.

“Sometimes there aren’t any other words that work, y’know! I’m just expressing how I feel at the moment.”

“Oh, um, here’s the bat back by the way,” Monika says, holding out the baseball bat, but Sayori shakes her head. 

“No way! You should keep it for future feats of… awesome violence.”

“Ah, no, I shouldn’t—”

“Seriously, no one in my family even plays baseball! Really!” Sayori grins. 

“Oh, gosh, thanks then!” Monika exclaims. “Except I don’t… I don’t really play baseball?”

“Nah, it’s for when you commit more criminal activity,” Natsuki says snarkily. Sayori nods in agreement.

“I can’t think about this right now,” Yuri says somewhat queasily. Monika nods. 

“Tomorrow.” 

  
  


**_9:39 a.m._ **

**Monika:** hey are u guys able to meet on the roof?

**Yuri:** The roof?

**Monika:** yea

**Natsuki:** Monika omg (￣ -￣|||)

**Natsuki:** How do you get up there

**Monika:** u know the janitors closet on the third floor?

**Monika:** it’s a few doors down from that

**Monika:** dark red “no student entry” sign u cant miss it

**Natsuki:** ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(￣▽￣)┘

**Yuri:** Oh dear.

**Yuri:** But, regardless, I’ll definitely try my best to make it.

**Sayori:** Oooooo I’ll be up there in like literally a second omg

Monika turns her phone off and leans against the railing on the side of the roof, looking around at the surroundings below (she has to push her hair back out of her face, first; it’s much windier than usual.). There’s not much to see other than houses and the Junior High School nearby but it’s nice nonetheless. Not to mention that it also (somewhat) takes her mind off the fact that she’s now liable for battery charges. But that’s irrelevant, of course.

The door swings open behind her and she turns to see Sayori grinning. “Hey!”

“Wow, you weren’t lying when you said you’d be up here quickly,” Monika laughs. Sayori nods. 

“Yeah! I—”

The door opens again and Natsuki walks in. “Why is it even possible for us to come out here? Does the school just not give a shit about security or anything?”

“No, it’s okay,” Monika says. “Locked on the outside.”

“Locked on the — wait —”

“Kidding! Kidding. Sorry.”

“Monikaaaa,” Natsuki groans. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Now we’re just waiting on Yuri, right?” Sayori asks, looking around. “D’you think she’ll actually skip class?”

“I have literally no idea,” Natsuki says. “I literally met her, like, a week ago.”

“Yeah, but committing crimes makes us all BFFs by default,” Sayori says cheerfully. “She said in the groupchat that she’d try to make it so let’s just give her a few minutes.”

The door opens yet again and Yuri hurries out. “S-sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to be late but my classroom is a bit far away from here.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Monika says. “Okay, so um, now that we’re all here…”

No one else speaks up and she sighs. “Ah, okay then… is it safe to say none of us are going to, like, report ourselves to the police?” Everyone else voices agreement and she nods. “Great! Great, um, everyone’s on the same page. So… how are you guys all doing this morning?”

“Okay,” Natsuki says hesitantly. The other two mutter in agreement and Monika nods.

“Ah… same here. Um. It’s kind of hard to go from here because there’s really not much else we can do?”

“Form a gang!” Sayori exclaims.

“No, no, let’s maybe not do that—”

“It’d be so badass!”

“That’s not how it works,” Natsuki scoffs. “As soon as you say that you’re forming a gang it isn’t a gang anymore.”

“What, how would you know? Have you ever been in a gang?”

“Member of the Crips, born and raised.”

“Woah, really?”

“ _ No _ , Sayori, no,” Natsuki groans. “Just — okay.”

“I, um,” Yuri starts to say. “While I do think that criminal activity is bad and everything, I can’t exactly say that I think Monika made a mistake in… doing what she did.”

“Thanks.” Monika smiles. “I don’t think so, either. But the police might not think the same if they were to find out.”

“Aaaaah, nooo, don’t even say that!”

“Self defense,” Yuri points out. Sayori points to her.

“Yes! Exactly!”

“You have a great point there, actually.”

Natsuki sighs and leans against the railing next to Monika. She looks around in silence for a little while before leaning over suddenly.

“Oh, it’s those  _ fuckers _ again!”

Sayori and Yuri hurry over and Monika looks to see a group of guys snickering down by the side of the school. After another moment she recognizes them as the same group who knocked Natsuki’s binder off the desk last week.

“Shhh,” Monika says. “Get back a bit.”

“No way!” Hang on,” Natsuki says, grabbing her backpack and beginning to furiously dig through it. “Does anyone have anything to throw??”

“Natsuki, don’t — don’t,” Yuri says, putting a hand on her arm. Natsuki shrugs it off.

“No! Those assholes deserve it!”

“At least get back so they don’t—”

Monika slaps a hand over Sayori’s mouth just as one of the guys turns around but it’s already too late; he nudges his friends and nods towards them.

“They’re cutting too,” Monika says in an undertone to the others. “They can’t do anything about it.”

“Yes, but they’re  _ dicks _ ,” Natsuki hisses back through her teeth, still rifling through her bag. The other guys snicker to each other.

“Come down,” one of them calls up. “Head out with us!”

Natsuki finally finds a pen and chucks it over the side. “Fuck off!” The ones close to it dodge it and then a blond-haired guy pushes his friend aside for it. After a few more moments where they snicker and mutter to each other they head away.

“Ugh,” Natsuki groans. “ _ Ugh. _ ”

They all sit in silence for a little while. Sayori sinks down onto the floor of the roof, followed by Natsuki. Sayori drums her fingers on the ground.

“You guys wanna get ice cream?”

“It’s a little chilly for that, don’t you think?” Monika laughs.

“Maybe. Why?”

“Well, okay, I guess I can’t argue with that!”

A crease appears between Yuri’s eyebrows. “Ah, I usually dislike missing class so often… and what if we got caught?”

“C’mon, Yuri! First of all, we wouldn’t get caught because we’re too…” Sayori strikes a pose. “ _ Stealth. _ And besides, you can make up classwork but you can’t make up a fun time with your friends,” Sayori says, grinning. Yuri sighs and smiles faintly.

“Well… okay. When you put it that way, I’d like to come.”

“Yay! Natsuki?”

“Well… fine. As long as it’s the one on Birch street, though,” Natsuki says quickly. “The one where you sit outdoors. The other one is right by the smoke shop and we’ll probably run into those assholes buying Juuls or whatever.”

Sayori grins. “Sounds good! Let’s go!”

 

“It’s, um, gotten a bit windier since the roof,” Yuri comments, pushing her hair out of her face again. Monika takes a bite out of her ice cream as the ribbon in her hair nearly unties altogether just from the wind and Sayori shivers.

“Aaaah, I can’t even watch you eat ice cream without it making my teeth hurt.”

“Hm?”

“You bite into it!”

“Well, yeah.” Monika smiles. “I’m no wimp!”

“Hey,” Sayori says playfully, sticking out her tongue. A lock of hair is blown into her mouth and she sputters. “Eww— How about we finish while we walk back?”

Natsuki adjusts one of her ponytails and checks her phone. “Lunch just started. We could get a bite to eat and then go back,” she suggests.

“We’re already eating,” Yuri points out. “And biting into food that isn’t supposed to be bitten into in certain maniacs’ cases.”

“Hush,” Monika laughs. “There’s that pizza place down the street, how about that?”

The others agree but they finish up their ice cream first. Sayori looks over at Monika and winces again as she takes another bite; Yuri laughs at her expression.

Natsuki leans forward onto the table, resting her chin on her arms. “I’m glad we did this,” she says more quietly than usual. “After the adrenaline rush wore off I’ve been feeling kinda off since last night.”

“I, um, I know what you mean,” Yuri agrees. “Obviously not quite to your extent but nonetheless… yes, this has helped lighten the mood, I agree.”

Natsuki nods. “I mean,” she continues, “Of course I’m glad we did it. And I’d do it again. But it still felt really weird.” 

Monika raises her cone playfully and smiles. “Well… 

“Here’s to feeling normal again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof sorry i was gonna post this last night but it was my birthday yesterday and i was busy so here's a late chapter! out of curiosity, how old do i seem based on my writing?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika and Yuri chat for a little while about all that's been going on.

Monika’s volleyball practice runs late the next Thursday, and once everyone has finished up and began heading out Monika steps up to the front door of the school and sighs. One of the last things she wants to do is walk home and be alone with her thoughts but she doesn’t really have much of a choice.

The first thing that comes to mind as she starts walking is her upcoming Coding II test. It’s also the first thing that she pushes out of her mind because, frankly, it’s not something she needs to worry about.

She can’t help but think that what she actually does need to worry about is that she still hasn’t gotten in trouble for the graffiti or for cutting class. (It’s hopefully not something that ever even  _ will _ happen.) And then she worries that she’s been thinking about things like that too often.

She’s nearing Natsuki’s house by now, and she wonders how Natsuki’s dad must be doing. 

Monika could finish him off right now. She could do it.

_ Ha _ .

She shakes her head and continues walking, but not before shooting a disdainful look towards the house. She pulls her phone from her pocket and turns it on, scrolling idly through notifications until a missed call from Yuri catches her eye; it was during practice so she had missed it. She swipes and calls her back.

Yuri picks up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Hey! I saw you had called earlier, sorry I missed it!”

“Oh, yes,” Yuri says on the other line. “S-sorry to bother you. I’ve just been… I needed someone to talk to about, you know, everything that’s been going on and, um, Sayori and Natsuki aren’t quite… well…”

“No, it’s okay, I know what you mean,” Monika agrees. Sayori is nice, and Natsuki is good when it comes to agreeing on major issues with things, but sometimes talking to them as a pick-me-up can be a bit much. Of course, Monika is a complete  _ mess _ , but she has some idea of what Yuri means. 

“I’ve just been worried,” Yuri confesses. “It’s just… I don’t know. Since we went into Natsuki’s house at the start of the week.”

“Do you… Like, do you mean you regret it?”

“Um, that’s the thing.” There’s a pause on the other line. “I feel like I should feel at least  _ something _ , nervous at the very least, but I just… I don’t feel anything when I think about what we did to him.”

“He was… a bad person,” Monika says gently. “I wouldn’t say it isn’t normal to not feel bad about what happened.”

“I… don’t think you’re getting it…,” Yuri says hesitantly. “I always thought I’d feel at least something. When characters I like in books die, I always feel… some sort of remorse? Or at least I can understand why it was a bad thing? And when civilians or minor characters die I may not feel remorse but I feel to some degree like it shouldn’t have happened.” She groans. “Of course, I know he didn’t die, but even so I should feel something and I don’t understand why I don’t. “

Monika hesitates, glancing both ways as she crosses the street, before sighing. “Um, to tell the truth, I don't think you’re wrong right now. It’s possible to become attached to fictional characters and all that, but civilians dying in books isn’t exactly the same as when it’s a real life person who’s done something bad to someone you know personally.”

“Hmm,” Yuri hums thoughtfully. Monika continues.

“Like, ah, for example I’m fine with real people, y’know? But when it comes to made-up characters it’s  _ really _ hard for me to relate or sympathize with them because I find it hard to think about them as real people, if that makes any sense. I’ve tried, but since I know they aren’t real I just can’t. Like in books, or TV shows, or… or, um, video games. I know that they were just thought up and designed by some person out there with enough resources and inspiration to and that everything they say and do is just some way of… advancing a plot or building on an idea.”

Yuri is quiet for a moment and Monika laughs sheepishly. “Sorry. I got a little carried away there.”

“Ah, no, it’s okay,” Yuri says quickly. “I just never thought of it that way, I suppose. It’s an interesting view on things. And, um, the first part really did help, thank you.”

“Yeah, um, no problem.”

There’s a few clicks and thuds on the other line, and Yuri sighs. “I was always kind of afraid of things like this happening. I never got into fights or anything, of course! But the thought of it was less like an issue and more of a… a rush?” She laughs but there’s not much humor in it. “Agh. Almost everything makes me nervous except for violence of all things.”

“I guess it’s the same with me,” Monika says and, now that she thinks about it more, it really is something she can relate to. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Ah… I’m glad I’m not alone in feeling this way,” Yuri says. Monika smiles as she finally reaches her house and digs in the side pocket of her bag for her keys. 

“Yeah.”

There’s a few moments of silence before Yuri speaks again. “I’m very sorry, I think I might have to get going. I really appreciate this, though, thank you again.”

“Sure thing! I’m glad I could help. It was nice talking to you.”

Yuri laughs softly. “You too. I’ll, uh, talk to you tomorrow?”

“Definitely.”

“Okay!” Yuri says, sounding much more cheerful than she had at the start of the conversation. “Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

The call ends. Monika locks the door behind her once inside and sets down her bag, but doesn’t turn on the light yet. She sits down on the armchair by the front window, leaning back and looking outside as the sky darkens. The living room is still dark but she barely notices it as parts of the conversation with Yuri echoes around in her head.

She loses track of the time as she sits there, staring out at her front lawn until she hardly recognizes it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a short chapter but i just kinda wanted to expand on a few things abt monika honestly? i also rlly like writing yuri and monika interaction so i couldnt pass up the opportunity


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chain of overreactions leads to yet another huge mistake.

“...And then I was like, ‘Fuck off, stop being a bitch’ because she was  _ really _ pissing me off by that point.”

“Well, yeah, that’s fair,” Sayori says. “She was being really mean.” 

Monika looks around, shifting around on the cool metal of bleachers. She really isn’t quite sure how she even ended up on the field with Natsuki and Sayori after school — really, the whole thing was a blur of Sayori practically ambushing her at her locker and pulling her along with them. Natsuki is currently retelling a situation from a few days prior, but to tell the truth Monika is having a bit of trouble following along because of the constant interjections. From what she can tell, so far it involves a girl in her Geometry II class teasing her about her hair. 

“And it was already kinda close to the end of class so when the teacher started the wrap-up she sat down again,” Natsuki continues. “Except then when the bell rang and everyone had stood up she pulled on one of my pigtails so I went to hit her away. And I guess I was a  _ little off _ in my aim or something because instead of hitting her arm I elbowed her in the face.”

“Oh, gosh,” Monika says. Natsuki nods, a smug smile creeping across her face.

“Yeah! She just kinda froze before kicking my bag off the chair and storming off. I don’t think she was expecting it, especially from the smallest one there!” She pauses. “People are always assuming that I’m, like, timid or whatever because of my size. I hate it.”

“No one thinks  _ you’re _ timid,” Sayori laughs. 

“You wouldn’t know.”

“People shouldn’t underestimate you, honestly,” Monika says. “But it’s cool that you can handle it! Right?”

Natsuki flushes somewhat but maintains her disgruntled expression. “I mean, whatever. Yeah.”

They all look over at the sound of a familiar voice as a couple of people round the corner of the building. 

“...depends on how long it’ll take,” someone comments. “It’s, um — I think it’d be a great idea but adding that is going to take kind of a while and since it’s due tomorrow I think that… might not be a good move…?”

As they near the bleachers, they catch sight of Yuri and another girl with short blond hair walking. 

“It’ll be just fine. I’ll add it in myself tonight, I already got most of it done during Study Hall anyways,” the girl says. “Promise.”

“Well… okay…,” Yuri says dubiously, fiddling with the straps on her bag. “If you say so.”

“Awesome! I’ve gotta dash but I’ll see you around,” the other girl says. “I’ll text you tonight if anything else comes up.”

“Ah — all right. All right, great.”

“Bye,” the other girl says, grinning and waving. She smiles at the others on the bleachers as she hurries off and Yuri notices them for the first time.

“Oh, hi,” she says, looking somewhat flustered. Sayori grins.

“Ooooooh, who was that?”

“We’re in a group together for a History project,” Yuri says, climbing up and joining them on the bleachers, putting her bag down at her feet. Sayori looks around at them all.

“Look! We’re all here!”

“Please, not again with this whole thing,” Natsuki groans. 

“What?” Sayori asks, sticking out her tongue. Sensing that Natsuki’s about to retort, Monika jumps in hurriedly.

“Hey, did I tell you guys about the guy who was vaping in Bio today?”

“No, who was it?” Yuri asks. 

“J.C. Do you know him?”

“Oh god, he’s literally the physical embodiment of the entire idea of vaping,” Natsuki groans. Sayori drums her fingers on the bleachers.

“Okokok, c’mon, don’t leave us in suspense like this! Spill!”

“Okay, so like… My description of it could never live up to the real life thing in any way, honestly, but oh my gosh it was so funny,” Monika laughs. “He sits in the second row so that already makes it kinda hard to be discreet about it but there’s also the fact that when you vape there’s, like, a lot of smoke.”

“I can’t possibly understand how he thought that would go well,” Yuri says offhandedly. Monika nods in agreement.

“Yeah! Same here! But he kept ducking down like he was getting something out of his bag, then straightening back up and putting his hand up on his face so his sleeve was in front of his mouth. And most people nearby caught on quickly because he was being pretty obvious about it and some of the smoke got out, but the teacher didn’t really get why people were laughing so hard.”

“Wait. Was it Ms. Fukuda?” Natsuki asks. Monika nods. “Of course she didn’t catch on. She's like a billion years old.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty clueless most of the time, and it took her a really long time to figure out why people were so riled up. She just stood there like —” Monika puts her hands on her hips and speaks in a high voice, imitating the teacher. “‘What is so funny? I cannot understand what can possibly be so funny that it distracts all of you from reviewing for our upcoming test!’”

“You sound just like her,” Natsuki says, choking back a laugh as Sayori practically doubles over and Yuri covers her face with her hands, laughing muffled. Monika grins.

“It was so funny! You wouldn’t believe—”

She trails off as a group of four or so guys comes around the corner. It wouldn’t bother her normally, except that she recognizes a couple of them — a redhead and a tall guy with dark brown hair — from the group in the library and cutting class. The other two — a guy with light brown hair and another with earbuds in — she recognizes from a few classes but had never really made much of an effort to get to know them. Natsuki follows her gaze and her expression darkens.

“Ugh — um, what were you saying?” she asks, turning back to the group. She tenses up as the other group begins to climb the bleachers and settles down a couple rows down and a few meters away from them, but doesn’t acknowledge them any further.

“Oh, well… so she was standing there frowning at everyone, and then finally she managed to trace everyone’s attention back to the other guy, right? So she called him and he was kinda halfway through straightening up after taking a hit, so he froze with the smoke in his mouth.”

Yuri giggles. “Oh, nooo!”

“Right? So he did the only thing he could do and…”

Monika stops again as she realizes Sayori and Natsuki have both stopped paying attention. Natsuki is glaring down at the other group again while Sayori is looking worriedly at her. Yuri and Monika both turn their attentions to the cluster of guys down the bleachers.

“...so gay,” they overhear the redhead saying (Monika recognizes him as the one who had knocked off Natsuki’s binder). “There’s no way I’m going.”

“C’mon,” the blonde says half-heartedly. The redhead rolls his eyes.

“It’s true. All those dances are like that.”

“ _ Ugh. _ ” Natsuki exclaims, clenching her fists. “God!”

The blonde glances back at her, somewhat apologetically. The redhead continues obliviously, now turning to the taller one with curly brown hair. 

“Weren’t you on the party planning committee back in Junior High?”

“Don’t even,” he snickers. 

“No, but the dances were actually okay back then. They’re so shitty these days, it’s like they don’t even try.” He glances towards the blonde again. “Sorry.  _ Gay _ these days,” he says pointedly.

“Shut  _ up _ ,” Natsuki says exasperatedly, loudly enough that he could hear it. He turns and looks up at her.

“What’s up with you?” He asks. She takes a deep breath.

“I swear to —” Natsuki looks up towards the sky for a few moments before exhaling loudly. “I’m gonna go before anything happens,” she says to the others.

“Jeez,” he says. Yuri glares towards them, hand slowly reaching towards her bag. Monika nudges her slightly as a warning but she seemingly pretends not to notice.

“What? What is it?” Redheaded Guy (Monika can’t remember his name so she’s sticking to calling him that) calls. Natsuki tenses up as he mutters something to his friends and they snicker. 

“What?” she says sharply. The guy looks up again.

“I said that you’re a bitch,” he calls. 

“Fucking  _ hell _ ,” Natsuki exclaims. “Okay. At least I’m not a shitty, lowlife—” She purses her lips and turns away, beginning to zip up her bag. Redheaded Guy stands up, slowly making his way up towards them.

“I’m not trying to start anything,” he says in a tone that sounds like he’s trying to start something. “Just calm down.” He steps up to Natsuki.

“Get out of my face or I swear to god I’ll — ” Natsuki hisses. He raises his hand suddenly and sniggers when she flinches, hands flying up to cover her face. 

“I’m not gonna hit you,” he says between laughs. “What do you think I am? I’m not that bad.”

Natsuki slowly lowers her hands but turns away and grabs her bag. She swings it over her shoulder as she storms off.

“What’s up with her?” He asks under his breath. When the others don’t say anything he turns to them. “I was just joking around.”

Sayori shoots him a look as she stands up, before hurrying after Natsuki. “Natsuki! Wait!”

There’s a heavy pause before Redheaded Guy (Monika  _ still _ can’t remember his name) glances back to his friends. 

“Nice going,” the tall one — the guy who was in the dance committee — calls sarcastically. The blonde guy stifles a laugh; the one with the earbuds looks over and takes one out, glancing at Monika and then back at his friends confusedly. “Great job, Hunter!”

Hunter ( _ of course _ he has a douche name to match his personality) looks after Natsuki for a second before shrugging. “Whatever. Not my fault some people can’t take a joke,” he mutters.

He begins to turn back when Yuri pulls something from her bag and, though she keeps it lowered, everyone nearby freezes almost immediately. Monika sees a flash of metal and hears a click, and feels her heart skip a beat when she sees that Yuri is gripping a pocket knife. Hunter takes a step back, eyes trained on the knife. Hunter’s friends continue their jeers and Sayori and Natsuki are still stopped on the side of the building, both oblivious to what’s going on. 

“Leave,” Yuri says tensely. Out of the corner of her eye, Monika sees Natsuki turn to look at the bleachers and then back to Sayori. Sayori and Natsuki rush over but still, no one looks away from Yuri.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Hunter says through clenched teeth. Yuri just looks at him, an uncharacteristic intensity in her gaze, and that’s when Monika steps in.

“Yuri, put the knife away,” she says quietly. “He’s leaving now.” She looks to Hunter pointedly. “ _ Right _ ?”

Yuri relaxes her grip on the knife somewhat, arm going limp at her side, but she still doesn’t look away. Hunter backs away a few more steps before striding back to his group. They watch as he mutters something to his friends as he grabs his bag; the others look up at them but, judging by the lack of reaction save for a couple snickers, weren’t told about Yuri’s knife. Monika and the others watch in silence as they head out.

Natsuki and Sayori rush up to Monika and Yuri as soon as they’re gone.

“Oh my god,” Natsuki says in a shocked tone. 

“Oh my god!” Sayori squeals at the same time. “Yuri! That was so hardcore!”

Yuri is breathing rather heavily as she shoves the pocket knife back in her bag. Natsuki sits down again, running a hand through her hair. There’s a stunned silence hanging in the air, broken only by the sound of footsteps as Yuri slowly climbs to the top step of the bleachers and stands facing the railings there. The others watch as, after another moment, she swings her arm back and in one movement punches the metal with enough force a loud  _ clang _ reverberates around the area. Yuri hardly even flinches and instead turns back to the others.

“Wow! Wow, I’m really really sorry for that,” she says, flexing her hand. “I, um… I don’t think I really have an excuse for what just happened, honestly. Sorry to Natsuki in particular. I guess it was really dumb of me to drag you into another thing involving, uh, douchebags.” She looks down at her knuckles, and even from a distance Monika can see that they look red.

Natsuki sits down and squeezes her eyes shut for a second. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Just — Just get over here, I think Sayori has bandaids.”

“I’m — I’m okay,” Yuri says awkwardly, making her way back down. “The skin didn’t break. I’m fine.”

“You guys are all so cool,” Sayori says appreciatively, beaming around at them. “Wow! Monika’s like,  _ wham wham _ , and Yuri’s all like  _ swing-stab-stab _ , and Natsuki’s out here calling people on their bullshit — like, wow.”

They all look around at each other for a few seconds before Natsuki speaks.

“So, what about that vaping story?”

Sayori begins giggling and, before they know it, they’re all nearly bent double laughing; whether it’s in the aftershock of what just happened or at the sheer magnitude of their entire situation, no one really answers but it doesn’t matter. It at least manages to mask the sort of dread settling in the air, and that’s all they’re really concerned with at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as i was rereading this i realized i could have just made this entire chapter less dramatic for the sake of making everything a bit more realistic but i mean... wheres the fun in that
> 
> also hunter is literally just this one guy in my history class but a few years older lmao can u tell that im fed up with him


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group agrees to lie low. Or, as long as their patience withstands, at least.

**_1:37 p.m._ **

**Natsuki:** Hey uhh slight problem (＃＞＜)

 **Natsuki:** You know Riku

 **Natsuki:** Dark hair pretty short?

 **Natsuki:** Well he lives next door to my dads house

 **Natsuki:** And today he asked me why I hadn’t been walking to school lately

 **Monika:** yikes

 **Natsuki:** I just said I was being driven to school lately and when he asked why I got him to fuck off but

 **Natsuki:** :\\\\\\\

 **Yuri:** Oh, dear.

 **Sayori:** It’s probably gonna be ok!!!!!!!! As long as Riku shuts up lol

 **Monika:** sayori,, i don’t think you’re seeing the issue here

 **Monika:** if natsuki usually walks to school and all that but she hasn’t been recently then neighbors might notice

 **Sayori:** Yeah but if she just tells people she’s being driven to school it’s ok!

 **Yuri:** Unfortunately not… If they continue to not see her around her house (which is the most likely possibility at the moment), and if there continue to be signs that her dad is home, people may begin to wonder why Natsuki isn’t at home with her dad.

 **Sayori:** They don’t know that

 **Yuri:** Even if they don’t suspect it at first, they’ll come to the conclusion eventually.

 **Sayori:** Hmmmmmmm

 **Sayori:** I have an idea!!!!!!!!!

 **Natsuki:** Please nothing that involves dressing as me

 **Sayori:** There goes my idea!!!!!!!

 **Monika:** the rest of us can’t do much right now but. natsuki just lie low for now

 **Natsuki:** Gotcha (*_^)〜☆

 

The bell rings as Monika frowns down at her phone. She has study hall next, so she resolves talk to her in person about the issue. Of course, it really may not be as big a deal as it’s being made out to be; she in no way overestimates the intelligence of anyone in their town. Honestly. But, nonetheless, it’s still not something to be overlooked.

Natsuki is already at the usual table by the time Monika gets there. She looks up as Monika sits down across from her and, though she doesn’t say anything immediately, Monika can already tell what she’s thinking.

“Hey,” Monika says. “Um… I heard about the thing with—”

“I _hate_ Riku,” Natsuki bursts out. “He’s so _nosy_ ! You know what? I never saw _him_ walking to school. Maybe I saw him once or twice coming home but never in the morning. I always knew he was a creep, I tell you.”

“Ah, wow,” Monika says cautiously. “Did anything else happen?”

“No,” Natsuki confesses, still sounding exasperated. “I’m just pissed! ‘Cause if people catch on then they’re are gonna look into why I’m not home and our cover will be blown and you guys are gonna get into trouble because of me.”

“It’s not going to come to that, trust me. Like I said, as long as we lay low and Riku stops being such a creep we’ll all be good.”

Natsuki frowns. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

Natsuki smiles faintly. “Well… okay,” she says without _too_ much sarcasm. “If you say so.”

They lapse into silence for a little while. Monika wonders where Yuri is for a moment, before remembering how she had mentioned her class before Study is far away from the library. She looks around the room and her eyes land on someone across the library. Despite the fact that their back is turned, she immediately recognizes the _hellish shade of red_ that their hair is.

It’s Hunter.

(Of course.)

“Hunter and Hellchild start with the same letter,” Natsuki mutters, and Monika turns to see her looking in the same direction. “Yuri claimed it was a coincidence but I’m sure you see the truth.”

“Well, all I said was that it was a far-fetched statement,” Yuri says, sitting down at the table. “A lot of words start with ‘H’, you know.”

“Please, I don’t want to go into this again,” Natsuki groans.

“Has Hunter bothered either of you at all?” Monika asks in a lowered voice. Natsuki shakes her head and Yuri frowns.

“No,” she says. “You?”

“No.” Monika looks back towards him, where he’s turned to sit down at one of the computers. “I just want an excuse to mess with him.”

“Hmm.” Yuri furrows her brow in thought. “I suppose I could… think of a way to create one.”

“Lemme guess,” Natsuki says. “Form a close bond with him over the course of a couple months. One fateful night, _seduce him_. Leave very early the next morning and flee the country, leaving nothing but a hair clip for him to remember you by. You will receive all the letters he sends you for years but never respond once. Finally, after over a decade, write him back. Tell him to meet you just outside of the town you both grew up in. He goes there. He's never taken another lover, after all these years. But your intentions aren’t to reunite, no, you catch him from behind and _kill him_. As he falls back into your arms, you catch a glimpse of his face and the memories come rushing back, but it’s far too late. Your regret overwhelms you. In his last moments, he meets your eyes and there’s a flash of recognition and betrayal before the light fades. You’ve made a grave mistake, and now you must live with the overwhelming guilt for the rest of your life.”

There’s a silence as Monika and Yuri stare at her. Natsuki leans back. “God! That manga is just so _infuriating!_ I don’t understand why on Earth she’d — okay. Whatever. God. I got carried away. What’s your plan?”

“Um. Well, I was just going to say we could subtly antagonize him until we actually have an excuse.” She laughs. “But I suppose that may not be quite to your taste, Natsuki.”

“You hush,” Natsuki groans. “But, yeah, I guess that could work.”

“Maybe let’s not,” Monika says quickly. “I was thinking more… waiting until he does something bad enough to justify us doing something back, y’know? And maybe less, um, _seduction_.”

“Let me suffer in peace!”

“But, of course, it could be easier just to continue to lay low,” Monika suggests. “I mean… if we’re thinking rationally…”

She trails off as she realizes neither of the others are listening anymore, and she follows their gazes. Across the room, the blond girl that Yuri was with the day they got in the fight approaches Hunter. She wraps her arms around his shoulders from behind and plants a kiss on his cheek and he turns, grinning.

Natsuki looks vaguely surprised (Monika understands — the blond girl seemed nice, from what she had seen, and her dating someone like that had seemed unlikely) but Yuri is scowling in their direction.

“Fine,” Yuri says, a sour undertone in her voice. “We’ll lay low _for now._ ”

Monika nods nervously and, at the back of her mind, can’t help but hope Hunter has the sense to lie low himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry yall ik all the non-canon characters gets irritating after a little while aaa im trying to limit them as best i can :") itll lessen up eventually i promise


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika proves that she and the others are all bark and no bite when it comes to "laying low".
> 
> In other words, they screw up. (Except this time it isn't entirely their fault.)

A week or so passes and so far things have been going pretty well with laying low.

Well. More or less. Monika is actually kind of surprised, honestly, over how well certain people ( _Sayori_ ) are handling it. Of course, there are a considerable amount of dirty looks shot at Hunter whenever he does something particularly irritating, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn't a part of that.

But, of course, apparently things going “pretty well” were too good to be true; Monika wonders if it’s the universe testing her patience when she’s assigned to work with him in a group project for Coding.

Hunter seems somewhat disheartened as well, to tell the truth; she suspects he’s thinking back to the knife incident or something else along those lines. The teacher tells everyone to move to sit next to their partners, and Hunter stands up with his bag and slinks over.

“You’re good at this, right?” He asks, sitting down at the computer next to her. Monika shrugs.

“I mean… I can _change_ code pretty well. Writing is a bit harder, though.”

“Good enough,” Hunter says. He nods towards the teacher. “Has he put the rubric up online yet?”

“I don’t know,” Monika responds, with a pointed look towards her shut-off computer monitor. “You check.”

Hunter purses his lips and turns his computer on. Monika leans back in her chair and looks around the room. She’s feeling a bit more disgruntled than usual (and it seems to be showing) because all she can think about is how, _damn it_ , she could have sat _anywhere_ else and gotten a different partner. Anyone. She’d prefer literally any other person in the room over Hunter but, _noooo_ , she —

“That’s not too bad — It’s due next Wednesday,” Hunter says, turning back to her. “So we have the rest of the day, the weekend and then Monday and Tuesday.”

Monika wants to respond with how she knows how long there is until Wednesday and that if she had wanted a dumbed-down explanation she would have asked, but manages to bite back the retort and instead just nods. “Okay. Sounds good. Since it’s online, we should probably be able to just each work on our own time.”

“Yeah, I _know_ ,” Hunter says in a tone that says he didn’t need an explanation, and Monika bites the inside of her cheek.

“Okay,” she says. “Let’s just work the rest of class.”

“ _You_ can,” Hunter scoffs. “There’s, like, four minutes. I’ll start my part later.”

“Great.”

Monika turns on her computer. Hunter leans back in his chair, pulling out his phone.

_Squeak._

_Squeak._

_Squeak._

Much to Monika’s annoyance, Hunter begins swiveling in his chair (which sounds like a _mouse being crushed under a boot_ , Monika can’t help but think). He either doesn’t realize or doesn’t care, though, because clearly it’s a good enough idea in his mind that it’s worth continuing.

Monika manages to log in to the computer and open the browser before Hunter speaks again, turning off his phone.

“So, like, that purple haired girl.”

“What about her?”

“Well…” He lowers his voice somewhat. “What’s her problem? With the knife and all that?”

Monika can’t find a response so she just shrugs. Hunter frowns.

“Like, okay, I was _kinda_ a douche to Suki or whatever her name is — but a knife?” He shakes his head. “Even if you’re friends with her you can admit bringing a knife to school is messed up.”

Monika shrugs again. Now that she thinks about it, she never really did find out why exactly Yuri had a knife, both the night where they snuck into Natsuki’s house and the other incident with Hunter; any second thoughts about it were kind of overridden by the excitement of everything else going on. She won’t admit it to Hunter, though, and he frowns.

“Whatever. ‘S long as you can get through this project without any of your friends stabbing me,” he says, smiling slightly. Monika raises an eyebrow.

“We’ll see,” she says, only half jokingly. “Anyway, I’ll do the main coding if you wanna stick to the design…”

“Okay,” Hunter agrees, right as the bell rings. Monika nods and stands up, grabbing her bag. He spins around in his chair one more time. “Hey, so um…”

“Yeah?”

“Never mind,” he says, shaking his head. Monika shrugs it off and heads out.

 _Lay low_ . _Lay low. Lay low._ She’s _this_ close to chanting it out loud to remind herself.

  


**_5:56 p.m._ **

**Unknown number:** Hey

 **Monika:** who is this

 **Unknown number:** Hunter

God _fucking_ damn it. Monika nearly throws her phone down but swallows, hard, and saves his contact.

 **Asshole:** Got ur number from Rory

 **Asshole** : So we can talk abt the project

 **Monika** : yeah ok i don’t think that’s necessary

(Monika still doesn’t know how Rory has her number.)

 **Monika:** but whatever

 **Asshole:** Jeez chill it’s just in case lol

 **Monika:** ok

 **Asshole:** Cool

 

**_8:02 p.m._ **

**Asshole:** How do you changethe background color??

 **Monika:** getContentPane().setBackground(Color.green);

 **Monika:** change the color from green to whatever u want tho

 **Asshole:** Cool thanks

 

**_8:11 p.m._ **

**Asshole:** How much is this project worth

 **Monika:** u have the rubric online remember

 **Asshole:** Oh right lmao

 **Asshole:** Still can’t believe this is an actual project

 **Asshole:** What’s the point of it

 **Monika:** can u think of a time where we had to do something actually worthwhile in this class though

 **Asshole:** The game project last semester was ok

 **Monika:** nah

 **Monika:** i just found one of those online ready-made game codes and fucked with it until it was original enough to turn in

 **Asshole:** Nice haha

 **Asshole:** You did that horror game right? With all the jumpscares? Lydia had to go to the nurse when she banged her head on the shelf after jumping right

 **Monika:** something like that

 **Asshole:** Cool

 **Asshole:** Also the background code worked thanks

 **Monika** : yeah no problem

 

Monika can’t possibly understand why Hunter would bother drawing on the conversation, but thinking about it now it’s not exactly _awful._ (Well, it is, but not the worst outcome of the assignment.) It’s not as bad as nothing but awkward silences.

Probably.

She shuts off her phone for the night regardless, and turns to her laptop. As long as things continue as they are, laying low should be a piece of cake.

  


**_Saturday_ **

**_3:03 p.m._ **

**Asshole** : Wwanna, come over

 **Monika:** the project is online there’s no need

 **Asshole:** True\

 **Asshole:** No slash loll

 **Asshole:** Well I mean.. We could hang

 **Asshole:** See where things go???

 **Monika:** lmaoo what

 **Asshole:** You seem chill ig and I’m bored asf annd kinda drunk

 **Monika:** naw

 **Asshole:** Cmon

 **Monika:** ask ur gf or someone

 **Asshole:** Gf?

 **Asshole:** Ohh do you mean Emi???

 **Asshole:** She isn’t my gf lmaoo

 **Monika:** mmm u sure abt that

 **Monika:** she seems to think so

 **Asshole:** I mean she’s cool ig butt nahh not my type

 **Asshole:** Why what did u hhear

 **Monika:** seen all that pda

 **Asshole:** Ohh nahhhhhhhhh

 **Asshole:** So ur not gonna come overr

 **Monika:** nnno

 **Asshole:** It’s only weird if you make it weird

 **Monika:** wait whatt

 **Asshole:** Nvm

 **Monika:** ok i think we both had a very different idea of what you meant when you said “come over”

 **Asshole:** ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 **Monika:** sdkjfhskjdfhkjsdhg dude

 **Monika:** noooooo

 **Monika:** ewwskdjfhdf god

 **Monika:** why

 **Asshole:** Ok now you’re turning it weirddddddddddd

 **Asshole:** I never said anything like that

 **Monika:** no but u iMPLIED IT DIDNT U

 **Asshole:** Forget it lol I,m gonna just finish my part of the project up

 **Monika:** U HAD THE EASIEST PART IT SHOULD HAVE TAKEN LIKE 20 MINUTES

 **Asshole:** Byeee lol

Monika calms down fairly quickly after chucking her phone across the room and shuddering for a few minutes. She almost doesn’t want to tell the others about what had happened and, frankly, doesn’t think she needs to. They don’t really need to know about a small thing that happened that would otherwise lead to no follow-up trouble. Really, it would only cause more issues if she were to…

She retrieves her phone and sends screenshots to the group chat. And then regrets it immediately. Sayori manages to respond in moments, as usual.

 **Sayori:** Eww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **Sayori:** Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh yikes!!!!!!!!

 **Sayori:** Ahhh maybe he meant you guys could have a sleepover or something?????

 **Natsuki:** (°ㅂ°╬)

 **Natsuki:** WTFF

 **Natsuki:** Sayori that’s NOT WHAT HE FUCKIFN MEANT

 **Sayori:** SDFHJDFH I KNOW UGHHHHH

 **Natsuki:** Is he legit drunk at 3 in the afternoon lmaoo that’s sad

 **Yuri:** Oh, dear.

 **Monika:** uh oh

**Yuri:** Well, I guess there’s really only one thing we can do, right?

**Sayori:** We can talk to Emi first bc she deserves better???? Right???????

**Natsuki:** Yuri ok look he is a DICK adn he can CHOKE but chill maybe please nothing involving knives

**Yuri:** Let’s fucking wreck his car.

**Sayori:** oR THAT yeah SURE sounds ABSOLUTELY GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

**Natsuki:** HHHHHHHHHG ok fine that works ヽ(; ￣д￣)ノ

**Sayori:** Monika?????? What do you think?????????

**Natsuki:** ^

**Monika:** u sure yuri?

**Yuri:** Yes.

**Monika:** aaaaaaaaagh

**Monika:** let’s do it then

Monika almost laughs out of sheer shock over how quickly everything escalated. She resolves to try to calm the others down in person at school on Monday — or, at least, to some degree.

But that’s not likely, she has to admit even to herself; she can tell, even through text, that no one else is set on laying low anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorryyyyyyy i finished this chapter like a week ago but i forgot my computer when i went on vacation . here i am now tho what up ao3


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika has a discussion with the others that ends up making things worse than they were before.

“Hey! Sayori, hey, wait up,” Monika calls. Across the yard, Sayori looks around until spotting her. 

“Oh! Hi!” She exclaims as Monika rushes over. “How are you?”

“Good, good,” Monika says, somewhat distractedly. “Uh, hey, do you know where Natsuki and Yuri are? We need to talk, all four of us.”

“Hmm, Natsuki is back there…” Sayori gestures to the bench a few meters back, where Natsuki appears to be bickering with a girl who has long, black braids hanging down on either side of her head. “...and I’m not entirely sure where Yuri is but I think she usually sits in the back of the school.”

“Okay, awesome, uh — hang on — ” Monika hurries up to the bench. Natsuki notices her and shoots a dark look at the other girl. 

“Wait,” she says sharply. “Hey, Monika, what is it?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Natsuki glances towards the girl with the braids again, frowns, and stands up. “Fine,” she replies, brushing off her skirt and swinging her backpack over her shoulder. “Anything’s better than this.”

“Oh, come  _ on _ , Nat,” the girl starts, but Natsuki pretends not to hear her as she starts towards where Sayori is standing. Monika hesitates before following after her.

“What’s going on?” Natsuki is asking Sayori. Sayori shrugs cheerfully and looks to Monika, who doesn’t give an explanation.

“C’mon, let’s go find Yuri,” she says instead. Sayori and Natsuki exchange looks, but follow without further questioning.

As Sayori had guessed, Yuri is sitting on a bench against the back wall, where she had been the first time Monika approached her at lunch. Her lunch bag is next to her but she’s focused instead on the book in her hands, a relatively familiar looking one with an eye symbol on the cover. 

“Yuri! Hey!” Sayori exclaims. Yuri startles and looks up.

“Oh — hello,” she says as they reach the bench. “What’s up?”

“Monika’s dragging us around for some reason,” Natsuki says. Monika ignores her.

“Can we talk?”

“Um, yeah, Is here okay, or…?”

Monika glances around; the backyard is less crowded, but there’s a cluster of younger students nearby. She nods towards the bleachers.

“How about up there?”

“Okay, sure,” Yuri says, putting a bookmark in her book and shutting it before collecting her lunch bag and backpack. Monika leads them over to a far corner of the bleachers and, once they’re all seated, takes a deep breath.

“We  _ can not _ wreck anything of Hunter’s.”

The others are quiet for a moment before Natsuki speaks up, frowning. “ _ That _ ’s what you wanted to talk about? You couldn’t have just texted us?”

“I need you guys to understand this, and texting isn’t the same,” Monika says slowly. “It’s  _ really important _ that you guys agree.”

“Why?” Sayori asks. Even Yuri rolls her eyes, but Monika is the only one to answer again.

“We’ve already had two incidents. Natsuki’s dad and the whole, um, threatening-Hunter-with-a-knife thing. We can’t keep up like this.”

“Okay, but  _ why _ ?” Natsuki says, repeating Sayori’s question. “It doesn’t matter. Both of them deserved it anyways.”

“I know, I know!” Monika says quickly. “And I don’t regret either, believe me. But I think you guys need to start thinking more about the whole legal aspect of everything going on.”

“The first was self defense, and the second… okay, well, we never  _ hurt _ him!” Sayori says cheerfully. “C’mon, Monika —oooh,  _ c’monika _ — you’ve been doing a really good job of handling everything recently! We all have!”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that he’ll know it’s us when we, y’know, smash the shit out of his car. And when he reports us it’s game over.”

“What if…” Sayori taps her chin thoughtfully. “...what if we  _ frame _ someone! Yeah! Mess some stuff up, and then leave a note saying, like… ‘Hi Hunter, this is Riku, I smashed up your car because you’re a jerk’!”

“Foolproof,” Yuri says dryly. Sayori sticks out her tongue playfully and Monika leans forward, elbows resting on her thighs and hands clasped together.

“No, we can’t do that either.”

“I don’t see what the big issue is,” Yuri says honestly. “We’ve done a lot of bad things. This isn’t a whole lot of a big deal.”

“Yuri, you’re kinda… blowing the shit we’ve done out of proportion,” Natsuki counters, rolling her eyes. “It’s not really ‘a lot of bad things’. It’s just a couple incidents.” She frowns after a pause. “But, yeah, I think we should go for the car thing. We don’t have a whole lot going for us, anyways. I dunno about you guys but I’m not exactly a child prodigy or attached to the town in particular… Finishing high school  _ here _ has always seemed like a really faraway concept and after, like, the whole thing with my dad it’s just seemed unreachable.”

There’s a heavy silence. Sayori exhales.

“Wow. That’s…  _ wowza _ .”

Monika looks across the yard at a group sitting in a circle playing some kind of game involving clapping rhythmically and chanting. After a moment, she realizes both Hunter and the blond girl — Emi — are playing, seated next to each other with their crossed legs brushing. There’s a sudden uproar of laughter and whoops that Monika can hear even across the yard, as Hunter apparently wins the game. Emi is laughing and drapes her arms around his shoulders, planting a quick peck on his cheek. He grins and pulls her into a kiss, much to the delight of the rest of the group, and Monika can feel a twisting feeling in her stomach. 

She looks away and sees that the others have followed her gaze and, judging by their expressions, saw the same thing.

“That’s terrible,” Sayori murmurs, her gaze lingering for a moment before she turns back to the group. 

“He’s a  _ scumbag _ ,” Natsuki agrees. “‘Not dating’ my ass! What was it he said? ‘She’s not my type’ or something like that?” She twists her hands together. “God, I’m —  _ ugh _ .”

Yuri says nothing, but her gaze darkens as she keeps staring at the group. Monika squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.

“Okay,” she says, opening them again. “Okay, God. How about… maybe we should talk to Emi like you said, Sayori. Let her handle things.”

“That won’t do anything,” Yuri responds. “I haven’t known her for a long time but… she gets attached to things quickly. And it’s really hard to steer her away, for better or for worse.” She finally tears her gaze away from them, glaring down at her knees. “A couple weeks ago, she called me about how she had found an abandoned bird in her front lawn. It was tiny, probably just learning how to fly, and it was acting weirdly — it had flailed around for a few moments before laying still, but she could still see it breathing. She had taken it inside and put it in a shoebox with a towel or something, and she was calling because she couldn’t get it to eat or drink anything. I tried to tell her that it was probably too late, but she said she’d keep trying. She gave it a name and everything, and was already planning to get a cage or whatever for when it was healthy again.” A crease forms between her eyebrows. “It, um, died the next morning. Of course. She held a burial for it.”

“Sounds kind of like something Sayori would do,” Natsuki comments. Sayori frowns.

“So… is Hunter the bird in this case?”

Yuri nods. “We could try talking to her, but I don’t know what it would do. She’d be heartbroken, of course , but I don’t think it would stop her from seeing him.”

Monika opens her mouth to respond, but the bell rings from across the grounds before she can. None of them move to get their bags.

“We need to talk about this more. Later. Don’t do anything yet.” 

The others seem reluctant but nod in understanding. Monika nods back, grabbing her backpack and standing up.

 

**_3:59 p.m._ **

**Asshole:** Hey so. I was rlly drunk on Saturday and I think I ended up saying a ton of things I shouldnt have told you lol. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable .I still think you’re cool but don’t worry abt what I said then haha, I promise I didn’t want to make u freak out or anything. Im still down to hang whenever lol but it’s up to you

**Asshole:** But um

**Asshole:** I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell Emi or anyone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As petty high school drama escalates, Monika and Natsuki try to keep things under control.

“You’ve gotta tell her.”

Monika frowns, holding the door for Natsuki as they both head out of the building. “You heard Yuri, it wouldn’t do anything.”

“But then what’re you gonna do? Let Yuri and Sayori get high, wreck his car, and drag us into deep shit? I’m already worried about both of them staying after school as it is — like, who knows what’s gonna happen?”

“Weren’t you siding with them, anyway?” Monika points out. Natsuki chews on her lip anxiously.

“No. Not anymore. I think Emi deserves better because Hunter is, like,  _ literally _ the  _ worst _ , but their idea isn’t gonna get us anywhere. You need to decide what to do next.”

Monika pauses for a few moments, and Natsuki continues when Monika doesn’t. “It’s sorta up to you, in the end, but maybe we just… shouldn’t get involved in the first place?”

“Well, it isn’t just ‘up to me in the end’, it’s all of our decision,” Monika starts weakly. Natsuki shakes her head, but lets Monika continue. “Um. Okay, anyway, I think it’d be good to not get involved, like, majorly, mostly because we don’t really know either one that well — maybe Yuri could talk to her, but as a group it could be an issue — but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to barge into their problems.”

Natsuki is quiet, but scratches her arm nervously. Monika tilts her head. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know if Yuri is gonna be on board with that. She hasn’t said anything outright but I’ve seen her, like, shooting dirty looks towards Hunter lately and I think she’s bringing more than one knife to school — she already brings a pocket knife usually, but her bag spilled the other day and a few things that sounded metallic fell out. I don’t know. She picked them up really quickly but, like, at this point…”

Monika has a sudden flashback to when Yuri had first bumped into in the hall, and something had fallen out of her bag that she picked up quickly.  _ So that’s what it was. _

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow,” Monika says. “She probably won’t do anything, but just to be safe, y’know?”

“Okay,” Natsuki agrees. “Okay. Great.”

They’re quiet for a little while as they cross the street and head in the direction of Sayori’s house, before Natsuki speaks up again.

“Did you  _ hear _ Smith at the end of History today? I swear he’s lost it!”

“Oh my gosh,  _ right? _ What’s gotten into him?”

By the time they reach Sayori’s house a few minutes later and Natsuki is pulling out a key from her blazer pocket, the air between them has lightened significantly. Natsuki is still laughing as she waves, stepping up to the door. “See you.”

“Bye,” Monika says, smiling after her. She continues walking, now alone — there are only a couple blocks left until her house, so it doesn’t bother her too much. On the contrary, it’s rather nice to have some time by herself.

An undisturbed walk is too much to ask for, apparently. 

Her fists instinctively clench when she hears an irritatingly familiar voice to her left at an intersection. She grits her teeth as Hunter hurries up to her, somewhat out of breath. “Um. Monika. Hey.”

“What?” She asks, beginning to cross. Hunter continues alongside her.

“First of all, are you done with your part of the project? It’s due tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I finished early on Saturday.”

“Okay — Okay, nice. I just have to finish up the last couple lines.”

“Okay,” Monika says flatly. Hunter scratches the back of his neck.

“Um… you walk this way?”

“What do you want,” she says, disregarding the question and continuing to look straight at the sidewalk ahead rather than at him. He coughs.

“So, like, about the thing that happened on Saturday. Did you get my texts last night?”

“I got them.”

“So…” He seems uncomfortable, which Monika counts as a small personal victory. “Uh, what do you think?”

Monika glances at him for the first time. “I don’t know.”

“Are you… going to tell anyone?”

“Probably not,” she half-lies; after all, she didn’t plan on telling anyone  _ else  _ (except maybe Emi if the time comes), but she had already mentioned it to Natsuki, Sayori, and Yuri. Hunter lets out a sigh of relief.

“Okay.  _ Thank _ you. I knew you were cool. I didn’t think it was a big deal anyways but I’m glad you’re okay.”

Monika doesn’t say anything and he continues.

“I guess I don’t want to, like, deal with the drama when it comes to Emi. She’s okay but she’s so  _ clingy _ . Always wanting to hang out with me or, like, walk home together. I don’t want her feelings to get hurt but I don’t want to deal with it, you know?” He pauses, and when Monika still is silent, he goes on. “It’s just kinda stressful. You’ve probably had relationship troubles before too, right?”

“Eh,” Monika says. Truthfully, she’s had only one issue in a relationship before, but she doesn’t want to tell Hunter that. He shrugs.

“Well, anyway. Thanks for not telling her. I’m probably gonna talk to her at some point but for now I don’t want her knowing that I…”

Monika zones out, not caring much about whatever he’s saying. At this point, she’s practically speedwalking — her pace has been gradually quickening since he caught up to her. Only a block to her house — 

“I’m not a bad guy, really,” Hunter says,  _ still _ talking about the same thing. “And I really don’t want to be. I feel kinda bad about her. But it’s just… I just don’t know how to tell her. You know?”

_ Is he  _ still _ trying to get Monika to help him with his problems? _

“You’re leading her on,” she says bluntly, and she swears he winces slightly.

“I’m not,” he insists. “If anything, I’m sparing her feelings by not flat-out telling her that I, like, don’t like her in that way. And honestly, I, like... don’t really want to cut things off completely. Most of her friends are cool and, I mean —” he lowers his voice conspiratorial, smirking somewhat. “You’ve seen her. She’s a solid  _ eight _ .” 

Monika rolls her eyes and stops in front her house, beginning up the pathway. “Oh, wait, you’re stopping here?” Hunter asks.

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Okay. Well… thanks a lot for the advice. And for being cool about, like, you know.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll try to break things off with her.”

“Good,” Monika calls, beginning to unlock the door. 

“Hang on a sec,” he says, and she turns. “I just… Well, like, I think we should still hang out sometime. If you’re okay with that. Not in a weird way. I just… like, you’re cool and all.”

“Maybe,” Monika says, fully knowing she’s never going to hang out with him.

“Awesome.” He grins, beginning to head away. “I’ll see you around, Monika.”

“Bye,” Monika says, internally cringing. It’s practically painful just listening to him _ talk _ .

She can’t tell the others about this, she can’t help but think as she steps inside. As irritating as it was, it’s not something worth getting them worked up about. At least now she can tell them that she tried to talk to him (and maybe…  _ twist _ the outcome a little if she needs to keep them calm).

Monika heads to the stairs, starting towards her room. She doesn’t have the time nor the energy to think about whatever’s going on with Hunter at the moment.

  
  


**_6:03 a.m._ **

**Natsuki:** Omgomg Monikaaaa did u hear (°ロ°) 

**Natsuki:** Monika

**Natsuki:** Monika wake the hell up

**Natsuki:** ヽ( >o<)ﾉヽ(>o<)ﾉヽ(>o<)ﾉ

**Natsuki:** Ok I don’t even care if ur awake I’m telling you anyways

**Monika:** i was just finishing up breakfast what’s going on

**Natsuki:** God how early do u get up??

**Natsuki:** Don’t answer that idc

**Monika:** skdjfhf what did u want to tell me

**Natsuki:** It’s Hunter

**Monika:** pls tell me he’s dead

**Natsuki:** God I wish but no

**Natsuki:** Look now that I think abt it and now that youve proved ur awake I can’t type all this

**Natsuki:** Hang on

_ Incoming call from Natsuki _

Monika, who had been brushing her hair, stops abruptly and grabs her phone off the sink. There’s a building feeling in her stomach — she can’t tell if it’s anticipation or nervousness. Possibly both. She swallows and accepts the call.

“What’s happening? Fill me in,” Monika says. There’s a couple ruffling sounds on the other line before Natsuki speaks, sounding more hushed than usual.

“Oh my god,” she says tensely. “Okay so — I’m like, whispering right now because Sayori’s sleeping right in the next room and I don’t want to tell her yet, but you  _ have _ to hear this.”

“Sayori won’t hear you?”

“She’s, like, borderline comatose when she’s asleep — look, anyways, it doesn’t matter. I heard from Trish that apparently Hunter hit up one of Emi’s friends late last night.”

“What??”

“Yeah! He texted her around midnight asking her to come over and she’s a fucking airhead so she did and they hooked up,” Natsuki says. There’s a sort of  morbid, nearly-excited rush to her voice. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” Monika mutters. There’s a quiet whipping sound on the other end of the call, like Natsuki’s hair is hitting the phone as she nods her head. 

“Oh my god — that’s not even the worst part.” She pauses, as if for dramatic effect. “He called her ‘Mon’ at one point.”

“What?”

“While they were, y’know… fooling around.”

Monika can’t seem to formulate a response, so Natsuki continues impatiently.

“Monika.  _ Mon _ ika. He called her your name.”

“Yeah, yeah,  _ I got that _ ,” Monika says quickly. “Ew. Ewewew. It’s so — ugh, it’s just so gross.”

“Emi’s friend left really fast after that and called Trish crying — saying she liked Hunter a lot or something? She figured out it was you, though. Dunno if she’s pissed at you but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Why would she automatically assume it’s me? No one even calls me ‘Mon’.”

“Yeah, well, try telling her that. I’ve heard she’s mostly blaming you for this whole thing, apparently.”

“Ah. That’s just great.”

“Have you been on Snapchat recently?”

“Not since yesterday.”

“She posted a ton of selfies of her crying in the dark around two with edgy quotes and then deleted them, like, literally a couple minutes ago.”

“What about Emi? Does she know?”

“Um, I dunno,” Natsuki confesses. “I do know that he hasn’t broken up with her yet. Or even said anything.”

Monika puts the call on speakerphone, resting her phone down on the sink again as she searches the cabinets for a ribbon. “Are you even sure about all this? Info gets changed a lot as it’s spread around, you know.”

“I’m not  _ dumb _ ,” Natsuki scoffs. “But like — one, I got it directly from Trish, who Emi’s friend called. Two, the whole Snapchat thing with the selfies. Three, I dunno if you’ve  _ noticed _ , but Hunter  _ did _ try to booty-call you last weekend. Four, I mean, Emi’s friend ties her hair up in kind of a similar way, so like it isn’t entirely — ”

“I get it! I get it. I’m cutting you off there before you start reaching.” Monika sighs. “I just —  _ agh _ , I don’t want to deal with this now, y’know?”

“You can’t tell Sayori or Yuri,” Natsuki mutters. “I mean, I’m sure they’ll hear it at some point, but like — we really, really, really need to try to prevent them from taking it  _ too _ seriously, ‘cause if they do…”

“Game over for Hunter’s car,” Monika finishes grimly. “Okay. Okay, smart. I think I should… try to confront Emi’s friend, maybe. Like, make it clear that I’m not into that douchebag at all.”

“Good call,” Natsuki agrees. “And then confront Hunter. This shit can’t continue. I don’t even know why he’s so obsessed with you all of a sudden — no offense — it doesn’t even make sense. Have you  _ ever _ had a good interaction with him? Or, like, a casual conversation? Has he  _ forgotten _ you’re friends with a girl who threatened him with a knife only a couple weeks ago?”

“Yeah,” Monika agrees quietly. “You’re right. I don’t get it either.”

“It’s like — I dunno. It’s like something’s off. It’s so  _ weird _ .” Natsuki sighs. “But, like, just what you’d expect from some insanely horny highschool guy.” She sighs again. “But, yeah, talk to Emi’s friend. I’m pretty sure it was Lila?”

“I’ll try to find her.”

Natsuki snorts. “I’m sure you’ll find her just fine when she’s throttling you from behind at school.”

Monika manages a weak laugh, pulling her hair up in a ponytail and tying it with a ribbon. “Thanks for that.”

“Happy to help as always,” Natsuki sarcastically, laughing. “Anyways, like I said, we definitely have to keep it on the down-low when it comes to the others. No violence…  _ for now _ .”

“Yeah. For now Let’s focus on talking to Lila and maybe Emi and then  _ confront the shit out of Hunter! _ ”

“Hell yeah!” Natsuki exclaims. Monika can hear a faint clap sound — presumably Natsuki slapping a hand over her mouth. “Oh, wait, shit.”

“Whatime izzit?” someone groans on the other line, distantly.

“School doesn’t start in a while, Sayori, go back to sleep,” Natsuki calls. “Well, I have to go anyways. Eat and get ready.”

“Okay,” Monika says. “See you at school.”

“Watch your neck around Lila,” Natsuki says in way of farewell, and ends the call. Monika laughs nervously — she’s not worried much about Lila, to tell the truth, but her resolve to stay patient with Hunter is fading.

 

With a bit of rearranging and the removal of a couple unnecessary binders, Monika manages to fit the baseball bat in her backpack. Just in case.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika comes to a bad decision and the others wholeheartedly support it.

_ 11… 33… 3. _

Monika frowns, preoccupied as she tugs on her lock. It doesn’t open and she twists it around again, this time a bit more cautious when hitting the numbers.

She got to school early, so the hallways are still relatively empty. Classes don’t start for another twenty minutes or so, so she’s unconcerned enough that she only shoots a quick glance down the hallway before pulling the bat out of her bag and shoving it into her locker. In retrospect, it seems like a dumb idea; there’s no reason to be paranoid, after all. Dumb rumors and high school drama aren’t worth violence over.

She manages to keep this mindset for a whopping three minutes, until she reaches her first class.

There aren’t many people there so far — a couple of boys in the far corner playing a game on a console and a group of five or so girls near the door. She notices a couple of the girls shoot looks her way, glancing away quickly.

There’s an uncomfortable feeling in the air as she sits down in her usual spot and pulls out a book from her bag, trying to ignore the sounds of the girls talking under their breaths and the game noises coming from the console.

After a few minutes, one girl stands up and picks her backpack up. “I’ve gotta get to first period early or the teacher’s gonna get pissed,” she says regretfully. One of the others follows her lead.

“I’ll come with you,” she agrees.

The remaining three fall quiet after goodbyes are said and the others leave. One of them pulls out her phone as soon as they leave, but the other two keep looking over at Monika; she can’t really prove this, to tell the truth, but she practically  _ feel _ their glances on her back. After a moment and a whispered exchange, one of them shoots a somewhat forced smile over.

“‘Morning, Monika,” she says cheerfully. Monika manages a smile back.

“Hi,” she replies, trying her best to sound genuine. “How’re you?”

“Good, good… um, how are you doing?”

“I’m okay,” Monika says, lying through her teeth. The girl nods and, though clearly not believing her, shoots another smile and doesn’t push her.

Things stay around the same level of tenseness as the encounter before first period until halfway through the day. Monika seriously considers just going to the library rather than lunch to avoid any more glances and awkward conversations. And then she wonders if she’s just overreacting. Except,  _ maybe _ , she’s underreacting — maybe something else has happened and the news hasn’t been broken to her?

That train of thought, thankfully, is cut off as her phone buzzes.

**_11:12 a.m._ **

**Natsuki:** Come to the bleachers during lunch ヾ(･├┬┴┬┴

**Monika:** be there in a couple

She sighs and begins down the stairs, aiming to start to the back door (which is closest to the bleachers). Most people have already gone to lunch in the cafeteria or the lawn already, which is why she startles somewhat when someone calls her name near the bottom of the stairs in the  _ absolute douchiest _ tone she’s heard all day. She turns and, with an unpleasant jerking feeling in her stomach, sees Hunter standing by the bottom of the stairs looking somewhere between stressed-out and irritated.

“I’m not doing this right now,” Monika says bluntly, and he frowns.

“Listen to me — we need to talk. It’ll take couple minutes at  _ most _ .” He glances to the door to the hallway next to the stairs and pushes it open, stepping inside and holding it for Monika with eyebrows raised.

After meeting his eyes and holding his gaze for a moment, Monika finally accepts that there’s no avoiding it and steps past him. The hallway is deserted and she leans against the lockers, crossing her arms.

“You heard,” he says, standing against the lockers across from Monika. She nods.

“What gave it away?” she says sarcastically. He huffs.

“Jesus... Okay, listen —  ”

The doors from the staircase open and another student holding a laptop, who looks young enough to be maybe a middle schooler, comes in. Hunter stops short and they both watch as the kid moves to sit down against the wall a couple meters away from Monika; they stare them down and, after a moment, the kid sighs and shuffles past them and down the hall. Neither Monika nor Hunter speaks again until the younger student has turned the corner and is out of earshot.

“God,” Hunter mutters. He sighs and meets Monika’s eyes again; she stares back. “I just wanted to say that I’m handling the situation. Don’t try to butt in and confront Lila or Emi or whatever the hell you’re probably planning, okay?”

“First of all, I’m not  _ planning _ anything. And ‘butt in’? Even if I was going to do something it wouldn’t be ‘butting in’ since I’m kinda, y’know, already involved thanks to you.”

“Listen to me — I’m not as bad as you’re trying to make me seem, and I know that’s just going to make me sound worse but I’m serious about this. I’ve never overstepped my boundaries, I’m really not all that into you, and the whole Emi thing isn’t as big a deal as you think it is. I’ve starting to, like, bug out these past few weeks and I think I’ve got it.”

He takes a deep breath. “This probably sounds insane, but I’m  _ positive _ you’ll know what I’m talking about here.” He scowls. “I know what’s up with you and all the shit that’s been going on lately. It’s all you, isn’t it?”

“What on Earth are you on about?” Monika says disdainfully. His face hardens.

“I don’t need to go on, do I? You know what I’m talking about. I don’t know how, or why, but all of this is in your hands and you’re using it the wrong way.”

Monika doesn’t respond. When Hunter doesn’t continue, she speaks.

“I think you’re delusional,” she says flatly, but apparently Hunter can’t take it seriously. His expression changes to something between righteousness and cold awareness, and he steps forward, adjusting his bag straps on his shoulders. 

“Fine, then.” There’s a flash of something else, something more serious on his face. “Just… stop with whatever you’re doing. You aren’t gaining anything from it. If you care at all about your friends, you need to get that it’s going to get to them eventually, too.” He begins down the hallway, towards the door to the staircase. “Or maybe you’re right and I’m just delusional.”

Monika grits her teeth. There’s a few seconds where she stands there, unmoving and alone, before she starts down the hall.

She goes to her locker. Her mind has, more or less, gone entirely blank but she knows what she’s doing as she twists the lock. 

 

The others are chatting idly when she reaches the bleachers, and they look up as she walks up towards them.

“Oh, Monika! Hi!” Sayori exclaims, grinning and waving both her arms above her head. Yuri waves, and Natsuki pouts.

“What took so long?” Natsuki asks shrewdly. If Monika had been more attentive, she would thought more about how she looks more stressed than usual, but she doesn’t do much more than observe it as Natsuki continues. “I need to talk to you guys as a group, it’s important. It’s about...” She trails off as she gets a better look at Monika. “Um… are you okay? You look kind of…”

Monika puts down her bag and unzips it. Sayori’s eyes widen as she sees what’s inside. 

“Woah, hang on! Hang on a second! Are we—??”

“You don’t mean…,” Yuri says slowly. “...During school hours? Isn’t that a bit, um, risky?”

Monika grips the baseball bat and, wordlessly, nods. Sayori gasps and claps; Yuri seems unsure of how to react, but there’s a glint of something in her eyes.

Natsuki’s expression goes from shocked to uncertain to worried. She fiddles with the hem of her skirt, biting her lip.

“You don’t have to come,” Monika says. “But I’m doing it. Enough’s enough. If you’re in, make sure you aren’t leaving anything here at school that you’re going to need — I don’t know if we’ll come back today or even tomorrow.”

“Oooh, count me in!!” Sayori says excitedly. “Omigosh — I’ve been waiting for this! I even have spray paint in my bag, I think — ”

Monika turns to Natsuki and Yuri questioningly. Yuri nods quickly, but Natsuki hesitates. They all look to her, waiting for a response, and she squeezes her eyes shut for a moment before sighing.

“Fuck it. Let’s go for it.”

 

The first hit at the car cracks the passenger-side window, and Monika thinks it may be the most satisfying moment of her life.

They had been able to find the car pretty quickly. Monika had seen it before — it’s some oversized, bright red hunk of metal that she doesn’t know the name of. Hunter had a tendency to hang around it before school, usually with friends, and the sheer  _ douchey-ness _ of it stood out from a mile away. As they had approached it, Yuri had leaned in and whispered something about the size of his car compensating for the lack of size of something else.

Monika is thinking about this with a smug half-smile as she lands a second hit, this time to the one of the headlights. It cracks, then shatters with one more hit.

Yuri is unzipping her bag as Sayori watches on excitedly and Natsuki hesitates. When Yuri pulls out a knife with an intimidatingly long blade and unsheathes it, Natsuki follows suit and reaches into her backpack to get her keys.

“Hmm… oh, hey! Monika, could you get the door open?” Sayori exclaims. Monika nods and, after a few well-placed hits, manages to break the window. She reaches her hand in, carefully avoiding the broken glass, and unlocks the door. 

“Go wild.”

Monika aims at the bumper and swings the bat again. She takes a step back as Sayori waves from the front seat, pulling things from the glove compartment and dropping them with her other. She comes across a keyring and grins, beginning to attempt to saw at the seat covers with a couple of the keys on it. Natsuki rolls her eyes and knocks on the door.

“Don’t just  _ saw _ at it,” she scoffs. “You have to do it in, like, one movement.” She slashes her own key across the side of the car with a  _ screech _ , leaving a long scratch. Sayori nods.

“Ohhh, that makes sense!”

“Hey, I have an idea…” Natsuki begins to scratch something on the door — probably something crude. Monika doesn’t ask.

Instead she turns to Yuri, who’s standing with the knife in her hand just watching the others work. “You okay, Yuri?”

Yuri turns to her, looking somewhat startled, before relaxing and looking down at the knife somewhat sheepishly. “Ah, yes, I’m okay. I’m just building up the motivation to do something.”

“Here, Yuri!” Sayori exclaims, climbing over into the back seat and opening one of the doors. “Help me out with the car seats and all that!” She pauses, in thought. “Hey, why aren’t there any alarms going off?”

“‘Cause Hunter’s a douche,” Natsuki says dryly. “Probably broke something and never got it fixed. Or the car might not even have an alarm— it looks kind of oldish.”

“But what if they weren’t broken? What would we have done?”

“Hit and run,” Monika says, emphasizing it with another well-aimed slam to the side of the car above the front tire. 

Yuri still hasn’t moved, but is looking at the car seat with an expression that Monika can’t quite put her finger on. Sayori notices this and turns to her.

“C’mon, Yuri! Hey — just try thinking about something that makes you sad or angry or excited. Then take it out on the seat! That’s what I’ve been doing so far and  _ I _ think it’s going pretty well, with my progress on the seat and all.”

Yuri closes her eyes and Monika stops to watch what’s happening. Natsuki pauses in her careful scratching, as well. There’s a few moments where no one moves before, in one movement, Yuri's eyes snap open and she plunges the knife into the seat. 

“Yeah! That’s the spirit!” Sayori cheers, shifting out of the way as the blade is driven into the seat repeatedly. After a short amount of time of the cover and stuffing of the seat being stabbed to practically nothing more than shreds, Natsuki leans over and calls in through the broken window.

“Hey, you can stab the other seats, too,” she says in a somewhat disdainful tone. Yuri doesn’t seem to hear her and Sayori’s grin flickers slightly.

“Yuri? You’re doing a super great job, but you can aim for other places, too!”

Monika steps in, putting a hand on Yuri’s shoulder, and startles as Yuri jolts away. Her breathing is heavy and there’s a wild look in her eyes that’s unsettling in how purely  _ uncharacteristic _ it is. 

“Woah, there,” Monika says slowly, reaching out to hold onto Yuri’s forearm. “I’m super glad you’re as angry as I am, but I think you should go a little more slowly.”

Yuri takes another look at the now-ruined car seat and down at the knife in her shaky hand, before stumbling back and slumping against the side of the car. Sayori and Natsuki look to Monika, who glances back to the school building.

“We should leave in a second, but just one more thing. Sayori, did you say you have spray paint?”

“Oooh, yeah!” Sayori exclaims, stepping out of the car to head over to her bag. “Do you want it? I don’t really know what to do!”

“Yeah.” 

Sayori digs around for a moment before protruding a can of bright yellow spray paint and handing it to Monika.

Monika crosses around to the back of the car, slowly shaking the can, and surveys the mostly-clean trunk. Sayori crosses back to Yuri, but Monika doesn’t pay attention to what she’s doing as she uncaps the paint.

“Draw a dick,” Natsuki calls, but Monika shakes her head. Natsuki cranes her neck to look over and watch what Monika’s doing, as Monika paints out a simple message.

_ XOXO. _

“I mean, it’s pretty good,” Natsuki says. “Not quite as good as my craftsmanship on the side of the car. But it’s a nice touch.”

Monika glances at the scratches Natsuki is proudly displaying. It’s a surprisingly detailed drawing of, as she had expected, a dick. 

“Nice.”

Sayori is helping Yuri up, and Monika turns to them. “Let’s get going — we can’t go back to class after this. Are you okay, Yuri?”

Yuri nods once. She seems to have calmed down a bit after the momentary freak-out, but still hasn’t said anything; she shifts on the spot, eyes darting around, and is scratching at the inside of her forearm nervously through her sleeve.

“Are we coming back to school?” Sayori asks. Monika frowns, shoving the bat back in her bag.

“We’ll see how things turn out,” she says. In all honesty, she doesn’t know, but it doesn’t seem like something she should admit at the moment. 

“C’mon. Sayori, can we go to yours?” Monika asks, handing her back the spray paint can. Sayori nods.

“Yeah, totally!” she says enthusiastically. “Let’s go!”

They only make it to the end of the parking lot before Natsuki freezes suddenly. Monika turns to see her staring the intersection and she and the others follow her gaze to see a man looking back at Natsuki with a somewhat taken aback expression.

Monika can’t identify him at first — he looks very familiar in a disconcerting way, and her mind is racing as she tries to place where she’s seen him. 

It hits her like a freight train half a second after Natsuki speaks in a small voice.

“Dad?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoyoyo shameless self promotion... i did a cosplay of yuri (her canon version not the gang version) recently! if u wanna check it out u can find it on my [tumblr](http://020s.tumblr.com/post/173839611340/the-light-flickers-i-flicker-back-my-try-at) eyyy (((but if u dont then thats cool too)))
> 
> aaanyways happy mother's day and thank u for reading this shit chapter


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down. (For lack of a better term.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoyoyo uhhh warning for violence + implied child abuse and all that stuff :^) u should be fine if u were ok with chapter 5 tho

“Dad?”

Monika’s grip on the bat tightens instinctively and she can hear Yuri inhale sharply. Sayori edges closer to Natsuki protectively.

Natsuki’s dad’s expression goes from surprised to faintly amused. “Hey, ‘Suki.”

Natsuki seems to be frozen for a moment before her face hardens. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just about to take you out of school, actually,” her dad says, a hint of a sheepish smile on his mouth. “I’ve missed you. Where have you been these past couple weeks?”

No one answers and, after a moment, he chuckles. “Well, anyways… I just wanted to see you.” His gaze flickers over the others — Yuri is still holding the knife limply at her side, but he either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. Judging by the lack of recognition, he doesn’t seem to remember the whole  _ getting-knocked-out-by-Monika _ thing. “Are these your friends?”

Sayori glares at him, but he doesn’t acknowledge it. Again, no one responds, and he looks around at the school yard awkwardly. Monika watches as his gaze falls on the ruined car a few meters away, and then to the baseball bat in Monika’s hand.

“Woah there. Was that you guys?”

“Yeah,” Natsuki says quietly. He looks at her for a moment, evidently somewhat taken aback, before laughing.

“Damn! You really did a number on that thing!” He grins at her with a hint of pride. “You always were my little fighter.”

Natsuki doesn’t respond, but Monika can practically sense her resolve faulting. Her dad steps forward and it seems everyone collectively tenses; he puts a hand on her shoulder and she flinches somewhat.

“Come back home, Natsuki,” he says softly. “I’m sorry, honey. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

Natsuki doesn’t break eye contact, and Monika swears she sees something on her face — Relief? Nostalgia? — but it’s hard to tell. Natsuki still doesn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong?”

No reply.

“You can tell me. It’s okay.”

Natsuki looks to the others for a moment before back at her dad, and there’s a distinct tremor in her voice when she finally responds.

“You’ve said that before,” she says. “I ran away when I was thirteen, too. Remember? And I came back because you said it wouldn’t happen again and I believed you.”

He sighs. “That… It was a rough time for both of us. Both of us were still adjusting to the big change after I got you back and Mom was gone. This is different.”

“You got custody back when I was  _ ten _ ,” Natsuki says. Monika notices, with a slight pang, a tear rolling down her cheek. “Three years is time to adjust. And even if you didn’t, that doesn’t mean you can just — just take it out on your kid like that.”

“C’mon, pumpkin,” Natsuki’s dad says helplessly. “Come back with me. We can go home and take the rest of the day off. See a movie, go somewhere — anything you want.”

He begins to head towards the corner. The street perpendicular, where his car is apparently parked, is much quieter than the street in front of the school; his hand is still on Natsuki’s shoulder and she hesitantly allows him to bring her along; Sayori and Yuri both look to Monika, panicked, and Monika nods to follow her.

They catch up quickly, but Natsuki’s dad doesn’t seem to notice. They’re already a couple meters down the street, close to a neglected-looking silver car, when Natsuki stops dead.

“What’s wrong?” Monika hears him ask. 

Natsuki shakes her head. He frowns.

“I said, what’s wrong?” He repeats, his tone significantly less warm than it had been the first time.

Natsuki’s hands are clenched into fists and more tears are threatening to spill out of her eyes.

There’s a long, hard moment as no one speaks, before Natsuki takes a deep breath.

“I can’t,” she says in a small voice. 

“It’ll be different this time. I’ve changed over the past couple weeks — I still might have a little ways to go, but I’m not the same person you’re seeing me as.”

Natsuki shakes her head and tries to step back from him, but his hand doesn’t leave her shoulder. 

“Please let go of me,” Natsuki says, desperation edging into her tone as she slowly draws back from him. “I’m not going with you.”

“Yes, you are,” he says and, shooting a look to the others, adds in a low voice, “Don’t make a scene. You’re embarrassing yourself in front of your friends.”

Natsuki stops for a moment, and he takes advantage of the hesitation by beginning to walk closer to the car, guiding her along with him. She recoils and finally manages to break his grip; Monika steps towards them, coming to a stop just behind Natsuki. 

“Leave her  _ alone! _ ” Sayori exclaims, hanging back a couple feet with Yuri, who still looks frozen on the spot, the scratching on her forearm much more frantic now. He glances at her, but ignores it.

“I’m not going with you,” Natsuki repeats shakily. Her dad’s smile has faded now, and he surveys her — eyes pausing on the tears on her face, and then on the band-aids and half-faded bruises on her arms and legs — and takes a deep breath.

“I don’t know where you’ve been, honey.” His tone is softer now, but it sounds slightly forced. “I know it’s hard for you to accept it, but you’re still at the age where you need someone to look after you, okay? It’s going to be alright, just — come home, ‘Suki.”

No response.

“Well?”

No response.

“C’mon, say something.”

No response.

“Natsuki. Answer me.”

There’s a tense, hard few seconds, before he grabs her by the arm and pulls her towards him.

“Let’s  _ go. _ You’re making a scene in front of your friends and you don’t even care. Stop being a brat and  _ get in the  _ — ”

Monika swings the bat. It barely glances his side and he grabs the end of it, turning to her.

“The hell’s wrong with you? What are you trying to pull?”

Monika tries to twist it out of his grasp but he holds tight; Natsuki takes advantage of the distraction by wrenching her arm free of his grasp and stumbling back towards Sayori and Yuri. 

“God damn it — Get  _ off _ ,” he hisses. 

“ _ Monika! _ ” Natsuki calls, but Monika ignores it; she grips her end of the bat, despite his efforts to tug it away, and somewhere in the back of her mind she can’t help but think how it’s like a messed up game of tug-of-war.

Her hold on the handle is loosening quickly, though. This makes sense, seeing as Natsuki’s dad is a grown man — and not exactly a lightweight, at that — but she feels a pang of frustration as she realizes there’s no way she’s going to get it back.

Right when he’s just about to fully pull it away from her, they both stop dead at a loud  _ whoop _ and a blur of yellow. Monika squeezes her eyes shut, bracing for the worst, and after another second opens them. Sayori is standing with the spray paint in her hand and Natsuki’s dad has his hands on his face. 

“Bam!  _ Blinded, motherfucker _ ! That’s what you get for messing with our friend!” Sayori exclaims gleefully. Monika grabs the bat as, with a couple more curses, he stands up with his eyes watering and red, yellow running down his face. Sayori shakes the can, spraying more on wherever she can reach on him, and he turns to swat at her; she ducks, aiming the can again.

“Shitshitshit I’m out of paint — ”

Monika aims a hit at the back of his knee, hard. “Yuri!”

“C’mon — pretend he’s the car seat or whatever was going on — Yuri, you can do it! We need you to do it!” Sayori exclaims, trying to kick at him; in one moment, he grabs the bat out of Monika’s hands, throwing it in another direction. It hits the curb and rolls towards the center of the street. He grabs her both wrists in one hand and Monika struggles to make him let go; he holds her at an arm’s length, rendering any kicks useless.

“Take  _ that _ !” Sayori exclaims, throwing the spray paint can at his head, but it doesn’t do much. His other hand goes around her neck and, though it’s not as effective with his other hand around Monika’s wrists, it’s clear that with enough time it’s bad news for Sayori. 

Monika twists helplessly as Sayori’s hands fly to the one around her neck. The whole situation seems surreal — it’s hard to believe it’s something they’re even facing in the first place, much less something they’d go into without thinking. She can hear the sound of cars along the road in front of the school and wonders why no one has noticed anything.

Things aren’t going well for Sayori. It’s something Monika doesn’t want to realize, but it’s obvious that things are getting worse with each passing second and Monika sucks in a deep breath as—

The next few seconds happen in flashes, as if Monika is watching them in a tape playing frame-by-frame.

Frame one: Sayori’s eyes squeeze shut, her grip loosening.

Frame two: Purple hair flies in front of Monika’s face and she sees an arm move.

Frame three: The hand around Monika’s wrists jolts, then loosens, and she pulls free.

Frame four: Sayori falls to her knees, gasping for air.

Frame five: Yuri goes  _ absolutely fucking berserk. _

“Sayori!” Natsuki exclaims, rushing to her side. Monika flexes her hands, making sure everything is still intact, before looking at Yuri. There’s blood on the pavement and Monika only watches for a moment before going to retrieve the bat.

“Yuri,” Sayori rasps. “Yuri, holy shit!”

“Slow down there,” Monika says, returning and crouching down next to Yuri. There are multiple wounds on Natsuki’s dad, mostly on his arms but a couple ones on his torso. His eyes are shut. “I don’t think you can do much else to him.”

Surprisingly, Yuri stops — Monika had been expecting a repeat of outburst with the car seat — and looks down at Natsuki’s dad, chest heaving. She wipes her brow and shakes her head.

“Still breathing,” she says breathlessly, nodding to the shallow rise and fall of his chest. “I made sure he’d stay alive — for now — I wanted to make sure he’s able to feel the life drain out of him—”

“Okay.” Monika turns to Natsuki, who’s watching her dad on the pavement with a blank expression. “Natsuki, it’s up to you. We can either call an ambulance right now and say he was attacked by someone else, or you can finish him off. One hit would probably do it.”

Natsuki doesn’t speak for several moments. Finally, she stands up, holding out her hand, and Monika passes her the bat.

There’s a heavy feeling in the air and it feels almost as if the world is holding its breath as Natsuki taps the bat against the sidewalk once, twice, three times as she looks down at her dad. For one fleeting moment, her expression softens, and Monika wonders if she’s going to back out; it ends quickly as she purses her lips, scowling down at him.

“Always was a fighter, wasn’t I?” 

She swings the bat and the impact sends a shiver through the whole group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also sorry ive been super slow with replying to comments! ily all ive just been busy lately but ill get to em as soon as i can :")


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls find out that they're better at handling post-murder stress than they thought.

“Oh my god, you _guys,”_ Sayori says, staring down at the body on the sidewalk. Her voice better now but still sounding somewhat raspy. “I’m — holy _shit_ , we killed him!”

“You okay?” Monika asks her. Sayori smiles weakly.

“I’ll be fine. He was pretty strong but it was only one hand.”

“Natsuki, what about you?”

Natsuki finally tears her gaze away from the man at her feet. “Good,” she says. “Taking out Hunter’s car _and_ my dad in one day is way more than I would’ve ever hoped for.”

“Yuri?”

“Um, I’m fine. Just… a bit shaken.”

“Okay, now that we’ve established we’re all fine we need to move _fast_ ,” Monika says, adjusting her ponytail. “I’ll go and do something with the… the body. You three, go back to Sayori’s house and—”

“I’ll come with you!” Yuri exclaims. “I mean — I, um, I think I know a place we could leave it but I have to drive.”

“Okay, awesome. Is it okay if we just take your dad’s car, Natsuki?”

“Go for it,” Natsuki confirms. “Sayori, let’s head to yours before anyone comes down the street or something.”

“What about the sidewalk?” Sayori asks, nodding to the red splatters. Monika shrugs.

“If you have a water bottle, try pouring it out to see if it’ll dilute it at all. If not, just leave it.”

Sayori nods. Natsuki grabs her arm.

“C’mon, we have to go. See you guys soon.”

“Bye.”

As Sayori and Natsuki hurry away, Yuri bends down and gingerly reaches into Natsuki’s dad’s back pocket. She retrieves the car keys, unlocks the car, and opens the trunk.

“Monika, could you help me lift him?”

 

Ten minutes later, they’re nearly out of town when Yuri turns down a narrow road. Monika looks out the window as the houses outside begin to get further and further apart, then replaced by more and more trees. The road begins to go uphill, winding and twisting.

“Where are we going?”

“I used to enjoy coming up here a lot,” Yuri says serenely. “It’s nice to read in nature. I’ve been a bit more busy this past school year, but… Well, anyways, I thought it’d be a good place for this. The woods get quite deep when you go far enough in.”

“Good idea,” Monika says. Yuri smiles faintly.

“Thank you.” She hesitates. “But… I do worry a bit about leaving Natsuki and Sayori behind. You and I both seem to be okay but, um…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Monika agrees. Natsuki and Sayori tend to be more unpredictable when it comes to how they handle situations, and given theweight of their current one, there’s no telling how they’re doing. “I trust their judgement, but I’m just a bit worried about how they’re handling things. This whole thing is probably hard on Natsuki in particular.”

Yuri nods. After a moment, she sighs. “I got out of hand, didn’t I?” she mumbles. “I just — first the thing with the seat and then he was choking Sayori, and I didn’t know what to do, and I guess I just… I lost control again. I shouldn’t have gone so far.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Monika says gently, sensing that Yuri feels guilty over it. “If it wasn’t you, it probably would’ve been another one of us. I’m sure Natsuki feels the same way.”

“Well… I suppose,” Yuri says reluctantly. “...I’m just a bit shaken. Everything happened so quickly.”

“Yeah,” Monika laughs. “One second we’re wrecking Hunter’s car and the next we’re committing murder.”

“Oh my gosh, I forgot about the car,” Yuri gasps. “Do you think he’s found out?”

“Um… it’s been about an hour since lunch, so… maybe? A lot of seniors have study around now and if they leave they’re gonna see it.” Her hand goes to her phone in her blazer pocket. “Actually, hang on a sec. I didn’t have vibration on for notifications so I might have gotten a text or something.”

Yuri nods as Monika pulls out her phone.

_5 missed calls._

_18 unread messages._

_2 voicemails._

“They _might_ have found out. Just a guess.”

“Ah, well…”

Monika plays one of the voicemails (one from her friend Allison) and holds the phone up to her ear.

“ _Hey, Monika. Um, I have no clue where the hell you are right now, but there’s some crazy shit hitting the fan back here. Call me back when you can.”_

Finding that one rather uninformative, she plays the next one, from Emi.

“ _Monika! Ah, sorry, I know we don’t know each other that well, but, uh… Yuri hasn’t been picking up and I know you’re friends with her, right? Anyways, um… are you at all involved with the whole Hunter’s-car-being-smashed-up thing? Sorry for assuming. I just know you two kind of butted heads recently and Yuri has been acting a little weirdly recently whenever he’s mentioned. But I just thought I’d let you know that he’s really angry and I’ve heard talk about maybe a lawsuit? But it might be just a rumor so don’t worry_ too _much. Anyways, hope you get this. Good luck with everything!”_

“Emi says Hunter’s super pissed,” Monika informs Yuri. Yuri perks up.

“Did she leave a message?”

Monika plays the voicemail again out loud. Yuri listens quietly and merely nods at the end, but Monika notices a hint of a smile on her face.

She hits the next message.

“ _What’s going on? Did you really smash that dude’s car??”_

She frowns down at the screen — it’s an unknown number, and though the voice sound vaguely familiar, she can’t really remember exactly who it is. Deciding it’s not worth it, she moves on to the fourth and final message, from a boy named Jace in her History class.

“ _Yo, Moni. I’m not gonna just text you because now you have to hear what I say instead of opening the text and forgetting to read it or whatever. Anyways. I need the recent History notes from you. Also, nice job on what’s-his-face’s car. He nearly shit his pants when he saw what had happened. Catch you later.”_

“Is there any other information worth worrying about?” Yuri asks. Monika shakes her head.

“All of them are just talking about how Hunter is angry, honestly.”

“Well, I suppose that’s not unreasonable,” Yuri sighs. “I wouldn’t quite expect him to be exactly thankful.”

“Yeah. I think if people knew about the whole, y’know, murder thing then Hunter’s car wouldn’t seem like as big a deal, though.”

“Absolutely.”

They lapse into silence. A couple more minutes pass before the car slows to a stop and Yuri unbuckles her seatbelt.

“This should be good. Let’s hurry and get him hidden so we can get back.”

 

~

 

Sayori opens the door only moments after Monika knocks. “Hey! I was about to call you guys — come in!”

They step inside and get settled in the living room. It hits Monika that she’s never been to Sayori’s house other than emergency situations — first the night Natsuki ran away, and now this. It’s an odd feeling, and she can’t quite put a name to the heavy feeling it puts in her stomach.

“Natsuki’s showering,” Sayori says, nodding towards the stairs. “Where did you guys dump the body?”

“Far away,” Yuri answers simply. “I don’t think we’ll need to worry about it being found.”

“‘Bout half an hour into the woods near the edge of town,” Monika elaborates. “Like Yuri said, it’s not really a place many people go, so we should be fine.”

“Awesome! What about the security tapes?”

“Security tapes?”

“I mean, the school has cameras around, right? I’m pretty sure I saw one facing the street we were on. What if they recorded the murder?”

“It wasn’t on school property,” Monika reasons. “I don’t think they have cameras around there.”

“Well… she has a point,” Yuri says quietly. “In the handbook, it _does_ mention that smoking is prohibited within 100 feet of the school. The street we were on was almost definitely within a hundred feet of school property, and I would be surprised if they didn’t reinforce that rule _some_ how.”

Monika hadn’t really thought of that. She leans back against the couch, chewing on her thumbnail absentmindedly.

“Okay, good thinking there,” she says after a moment. “That’s definitely something we need to worry about, then. I mean, look, I’m sure we were all thinking about the possibility that we have to skip town, but now that that’s on the table I… I really think we should go for it.”

The other two don’t speak, but Yuri gulps and Sayori nods vigorously.

“We’ll talk about this more when Natsuki is back,” Monika says finally. “How’s she doing, Sayori?”

“Um… she’s been kind of quiet since the incident. I’m sort of worried.”

“She’ll be okay,” Yuri says bluntly. “Ah, that — I didn’t mean for it to sound like that! But, I mean, since I’ve known her she’s always seemed pretty resilient and I just — ”

“It’s okay, we know what you mean. I agree — I think she’ll be able to keep her head up.”

 

Natsuki comes down a few minutes later, hair still wet and clothing looking a bit wild. She’s changed into a pair of sweatpants and a light pink t-shirt, and stops when she sees the others.

“You guys didn’t even change?”

“...No?” Sayori says confusedly, but when Monika takes another look at Sayori and Yuri and then at herself she realizes what Natsuki’s referring to. They’re still covered in blood — Yuri, mostly, but a few spots on Sayori and herself as well — and she shrugs apologetically.

“Sorry, we just got back. I didn’t even notice until now.”

Natsuki takes a seat on the armchair near Yuri’s. “So… what now? What’s going on?”

“A lot of people found out about the car,” Monika informs her. “Check your phone — I’ve been practically bombarded by texts and stuff for the past half hour or so. You guys are probably getting messages too, if anyone at that school has any basic deduction skills.”

“Ah. _Fantastic._ ”

“Um, so… we were talking a bit before you came down, actually, and… I mean, to put it shortly, it’s likely that we’re gonna be skipping town.”

Natsuki shrugs. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I mean, yeah. We weren’t gonna just show up to school tomorrow after everything that’s happened, were we?”

“So… should we get packed?” Sayori asks. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never skipped town before! But now I am!”

“Let’s leave early next morning,” Monika decides. “We need time to set up a plan and get rested. We won’t get anywhere if we leave right now — what time is it, by the way?”

“‘Bout 2:30,” Natsuki answers, glancing at the clock on the wall. “School gets out soon.”

“Okay, so… All right. Here’s the plan. Yuri, you live furthest from the school out of all of us, right?” Yuri nods. “We’ll stay at your place for the night. Tonight, after traffic has died down, we can stop by whoever’s house we need to to get last-minute things. Um… there’s not much other than that, except try to avoid talking to people from school on social media and stuff for now. We’ve gotta lie low.”

This plan is met with general agreement, but they’re all nervous smiles and hesitant nods as they wonder _what on earth_ they’ve gotten into.

 

~

 

By 11 that night, they’ve managed to all shower and change, stop by everyone’s houses, and accumulate 34 missed calls and 102 (and counting) unread texts between them. Despite Sayori’s insistence that staying up all night would be fun, Monika manages to get everyone into bed/sleeping bags at a somewhat reasonable time. There are two sleeping bags, both from Sayori, and Yuri’s bed as well.

“No,” Natsuki says flatly when Monika proposes an idea for sleeping arrangements — Monika and Sayori each in a sleeping bag, with Yuri and Natsuki sharing Yuri’s bed. “No way. I’m not sharing with Yuri.”

“It’d be a lot easier than sharing a sleeping bag with Sayori,” Monika says, stifling a smile. Natsuki groans.

“Sayori can share with Yuri! I mean, look, I’m just being nice here. I, like, kick in my sleep and whatever. Are you really going to subject Yuri to that?”

“I kick when we hit a certain time at night and no one will go to bed,” Yuri says quietly. Sayori giggles, but Yuri ignores it and turns to Natsuki. “You can take the couch if you’d like.” Natsuki sticks out her tongue.

“Maybe I will.”

(She doesn’t.)

“Y’know, I’ve always kind of wanted for us all to have a sleepover,” Sayori says sheepishly half an hour after the lights are turned off, grinning as she snuggles into her sleeping bag.

“Sleepover?” Monika asks sleepily, rolling over to face her.

“Yeah! They’re so much fun.”

“Well… here’s your sleepover now.”

“Mm,” Natsuki hums, shifting in bed. “Sleepovers are really badly named. No one ever sleeps.”

“I’d say this is as good a sleepover as any, then,” Yuri murmurs. Monika stifles a laugh and she can hear Sayori and Natsuki giggle.

“You’re, like, ten times funnier when you’re tired,” Natsuki says. Yuri doesn’t respond.

“This isn’t how I’d imagine a sleepover with all of us would go, though,” Sayori says quietly. “Not like this. It’s kind of a fucked up sleepover.”

“Murder’s a pretty good reason to start a sleepover.”

“It’s also a good way to _end_ one,” Yuri says grumpily. This time, Monika can’t control her laughter as the others burst out again. “You’re giving me too many opportunities.”

“We’ll shut up if it’s really bothering you,” Sayori offers. Yuri sighs.

“Ah, no, you aren’t really. I’m just kind of — I get a bit, um, impulsive when I’m tired. I don’t mean to be a grump.”

“No, no, it’s great,” Natsuki laughs. “It’s funny seeing you roast people like this, especially since you’re… you.”

“I don’t _feel_ like myself,” Yuri sighs, not woefully.Monika knows what Yuri is feeling — after all that's happened so far, it's nice to not feel like herself for once. She shifts in her sleeping bag and shuts her eyes.

“Yeah,” she says. “I know just what you mean.”

The atmosphere seems the most at-ease it’s been all day as they drift off to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group tries to figure out where they're heading.

Monika jolts awake. The room is still dark, but there’s a faint light behind the curtains; she twists around to look at the blinking display of the alarm clock on Yuri’s nightstand.

_ 5:14 a.m. _

She moves to prop herself up on her elbow, but finds that Sayori’s arm is wrapped over her sleeping bag. She gently removes the arm without waking her and sits up, wiggling out of the sleeping bag as quietly as she can. 

Sayori makes a little noise and rolls over as Monika steps over her, but stays fast asleep. Monika turns and looks back as she reaches the door. The others look younger in their sleep, faces free of worry. It’s almost difficult remembering that they’re a part of the same downwards spiral as Monika. She sighs and slips out of the room.

She unplugs her phone from where it had been charging on the kitchen counter, before heading to the living room. Now’s as good a time as ever to try to work out a travel plan, she reckons, pulling up the Maps app on her phone.

There are considerable amount of possibilities for places to stay. There are less when she takes budget and location into consideration. There’s one hotel at a fairly affordable price that particularly catches her eye, but it’s a bit too close to the town than she thinks they should be. 

After a few more minutes of searching, she comes across a cheap motel a good amount away. She stars it and, realizing there’s not much else she can do until the others are up, decides to see if anyone has mentioned anything on social media.

She decides to go for Twitter first. She goes to open the app, begins scrolling through her feed, and promptly has a mini heart attack as someone in the room says something.

“Monika?”

Monika’s heart gives an unpleasant jolt of surprise and she looks up to see Yuri standing in the doorway, hair somewhat tangled.

“Oh, hey!”

“I wasn’t expecting you to be up this early,” Yuri says sleepily, shuffling over and sitting down on the other end of the couch. Monika sighs and drops her hands to her lap.

“I was just trying to work out ideas of where we’re going. I think there might be a place we could stay for a little while but I want to talk to all of you about it first.”

Neither of them speak for a moment, before Monika looks over at Yuri again. “Why’re you up?” she asks curiously.

“Oh, well, um… I was a bit restless all night and didn’t sleep very well, so when I heard someone moving around in the living room so I thought I might as well get up,” she laughs sheepishly. “Would you like some tea? I was going to make some.” 

“Oh, that’d be great, actually!”

“Great.” Yuri smiles. “I’ll be just a moment.”

Monika nods. Yuri disappears into the kitchen and she shifts on the couch awkwardly, not really all that interested in going back to Twitter but unsure of what to do while waiting at the same time. A few minutes pass with Monika drumming her fingers on the couch and glancing around the room, before Yuri steps back in holding two cups. She sets one down on the table in front of Monika, before sitting back down holding the other.

“Oh, um, is chamomile okay? Sorry, I forgot to ask.”

“Chamomile’s fine,” Monika confirms, blowing on the cup before taking a sip. “Thank you!”

Yuri smiles, drinking from her own cup. They sit there in a comfortable silence for a little while before Yuri glances at the clock.

“Are we leaving early? Do you think we should wake Natsuki and Sayori?”

“Um, yeah, maybe,” Monika replies. “I have an idea of where we could go but I wanna talk to you guys before we make any decisions. If we do decide to go there, we should leave before 7 or so.”

“Ah… what do you have in mind? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“I found a pretty affordable motel a while always. I figured we could stay here for a little while until we have something worked out.”

“Good idea,” Yuri says appreciatively. Monika smiles, setting her cup down.

“I’ll go get the others,” she says, standing and beginning towards Yuri’s room.

She flips the light on upon entering. “‘Morning! We’ve gotta head out kinda soon.”

Natsuki rolls over and groans, pressing her pillow over her head. Sayori grunts but otherwise stays fast asleep. 

Monika flickers the light a couple times before striding across the room, unzipping Sayori’s sleeping bag and tearing the covers off Natsuki.

Natsuki squeezes her eyes shut and mutters something that sounds like a cross between “Fuck off” and “Monika”. Sayori rolls over onto her back, forearm flung over her eyes.

“C’mon, up and at ‘em! I wanna talk to you guys about something. I’m also kind of half-expecting Hunter to burst down the front door at any moment, honestly.”

“Is he mad?” Sayori mumbles. Natsuki rubs her eyes before blearily blinking them mostly open.

“ _ No _ , Sayori, he’s not mad. He just wants to know why we decided to  _ smash up his car _ . And then we can all just talk it out and apologize to each other.”

“Oh. I thought he’d be angrier. I guess it just…” She trails off, evidently not awake enough to finish her train of thought. Monika nudges her with her foot.

“Sayori, c’mon,” she says. Natsuki groans and half-rolls and half-falls out of bed, before straightening up and kneeling over Sayori, hoving a few inches above her face. Monika watches in amusement as Natsuki takes a deep breath.

“SAYORI, THERE’S A FIRE IN THE KITCHEN AND NO ONE CAN GET ALONG AND THERE’S A LOT OF FRIENDSHIP AT STAKE,” she yells. Sayori’s eyes fly open and she sits up, bonking foreheads with Natsuki.

“Owww!”

“Ouch!”

Sayori rubs the spot on her head where they collided, flopping back down onto the sleeping bag. “Hey! Natsuki, that was mean!”

“Tell that to my forehead,” Natsuki huffs. Monika stifles laugh and steps over to the door again.

“Come to the living room, I have to talk to you guys.”

 

~

 

“Two stars?”

Natsuki rolls her eyes, leaning back against the couch. “Yuri, two stars is the best we’re gonna get. This isn’t exactly a luxurious situation.”

“I know, I know!” Yuri says quickly. “It’s just that — would it be the best, um, living situation? I mean, cheap motels tend to have certain… drawbacks, and it really could be more detrimental than—”

“I don’t really get why we have to leave, honestly,” Sayori interrupts. “I don’t mind! But, I mean, it’s only Hunter. We could take him on anytime, he’s no match for  _ us _ !”

“We aren’t leaving because of Hunter,” Natsuki says. “We’re leaving because someone’s gonna find out about the murder sooner or later and we don’t want to be here when they do.”

“Oh. Right. I nearly forgot about that.”

“Have you read the reviews?” Natsuki says to Monika, seemingly to change the subject. Monika shakes her head, tapping to open them, and the others crowd in to look over her shoulder.

“‘1/5: Would give a zero if possible. Staff was rude. Saw an employee clean a table then wring out the rag into the free ice bin,’” Natsuki reads aloud. “Oh, ew.”

“‘2/5: Overall decent stay but the lights flickered and the armchair pillows smelled like cigarette smoke.’”

“‘1/5: The street outside was noisy and it was all you could hear. The pool had a suspicious red tinge and there were wrappers floating in it.’”

“These are terrible,” Sayori mumbles. “Are there any high ratings?”

Monika scrolls back up to the filter option and sets it to only four- and five-star reviews; three pop up. Yuri reads the first.

“‘4/5: Enjoyed the stay.’ That was rather short, but I suppose it got the point across.”

“‘4/5: I liked the potted plants in the hallways a lot. I also liked the elevator music.’”

Natsuki bursts into laughter as the next comment comes into view. “Oh, no — Oh, that has to be a troll.”

“‘5/5,’” Monika reads. “‘Mediocre, mostly, but the free ice was great. It had sort of a different taste but not in a bad way. I liked it a lot.’ Oh, gosh.”

Natsuki covers her face, shoulders shaking with laughter. Yuri exhales sharply, turning away in disgust.

“Wait,” Sayori says, frowning. “Hold on. Didn’t that other review say that… they saw the employee…”

Yuri nods, pursing her lips. Sayori looks unsure of how to react, opening her mouth to respond before shutting it again.

“The reviews on this are terrible,” Yuri says hesitantly. “What’s the nightly rate? How far away is it? I’m sorry, but I really think we should reconsider if it isn’t worth it.”

“It’s a bit under ninety miles away, I think. One room with two king-sized beds is around ninety a night.” Monika pauses for a moment. “I think it’s definitely an option for now. Y’know, we can stay there a couple nights before we have something worked out.”

Natsuki shrugs. “I dunno, I mean… I guess you kind of have a point.”

“I’m all for it!” Sayori exclaims. “I’ve always wanted to take a road trip with my friends and stay in crummy motels.”

“This is, um, certainly… certainly an interesting ‘road trip,’” Yuri says quietly. Sayori nods in agreement, grinning. 

Everyone looks towards Yuri, who looks startled at all the sudden attention. “Um, is something the matter?”

“What do you think about the motel?” Monika asks. Yuri hesitates, before sighing resignedly. 

“Well… like you said, it’s our best bet. I’m alright with it as a — a temporary place of refuge.”

“Where are we getting the money?” Sayori asks. Monika shrugs.

“We’ll figure that out. We should leave kind of soon if we wanna be out of town by the time people start leaving for school.”

“I’m gonna go get dressed,” Natsuki sighs, standing up. “And packed, I guess.”

“Great! Um, I think we can probably get breakfast on the w— ”

“I’ll make sandwiches,” Yuri says, beginning towards the kitchen. Sayori grins.

“I’m so excited!” she says, standing up on the couch to open the curtains. The room is flooded with a cold light and she grins, stepping back down. “What about you, Monika?”

Monika doesn’t respond, instead leaning in and brushing part of Sayori’s hair out of the way. In the light, several light purple and greenish bruises are visible spotting her neck; Monika frowns.

“Does your neck hurt, Sayori?”

“I’m a bit sore. It’s all right though! Natsuki’s dad was pretty rough but I’ll be  fine.”

Monika sighs. “Well, if you say so, but just… try to get some ice on that.”

“Will do!”

Sayori bounds towards the kitchen, presumably to get ice. Monika punches the bridge of her nose and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment before taking a deep breath and going towards the bedroom.

She decides she’d far prefer thinking of the situation as is — an impromptu run from crime — rather than a road trip.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took like 2398478348 years and it STILL sucked..... my school finally ended tho so the wait for the next chap shouldn't be as long! thanks for sticking with this fic as always :-)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group seems to adjust to the first night in the new hotel fairly quickly; in addition, consequences for actions along the drive seem to come faster than tey had anticipated.

“Yuri, could you pull over?” Sayori asks about an hour and a half into the trip, as they’ve entered a small town in the middle of who-knows-where. 

“Um, what for?”

“I have an idea, just — you’ll see!”

Yuri glances to Monika, who raises her eyebrows.

“Um, Sayori, is this really important?”

“Yes! Yeah, if it works out — which it will! — it’ll be really good news. Just — ooh, right there, in that gas station parking lot.”

Yuri turns and, with a bit of navigation, manages to pull into the gas station (albeit hesitantly). The surrounding area is quiet, with a couple cars driving along the main road now and then being the only sign of other people. 

“Monika! Do you still have that bat?”

“Oh, gosh, Sayori,” Monika sighs. “Um, yeah. It should be in the back somewhere.”

There’s a bit of rustling in the back seat. “Got it! You guys need to be here for this, c’mon.”

“Sayori, what are we doing?” Natsuki hisses through her teeth. “Tell me you aren’t thinking of robbing the convenience store.”

Sayori looks to Monika, who squeezes her eyes shut in exasperation. 

“You know what? Fine. Fine, let’s just go for it,” she says finally. Sayori grins. 

“Yesss!”

“Oh, I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Yuri says quietly. Sayori tilts her head thoughtfully.

“Okay, how about two of us go in and two stay back and get gas? Then we can make a quick getaway  _ and _ fill up the tank! Win-win!”

“I’ll go,” Monika volunteers, opening the side door and stepping out. Natsuki furrows her brow.

“Hey! Hey, hang on a second! Why do I have to stay back?”

“Do you want to come? Yuri, you wouldn’t mind staying back alone, would you?”

“Well… um… I suppose I wouldn’t…”

“Ugh.  _ Fine _ , I’ll stay back with Yuri, but if you guys aren’t out in ten minutes, I’m going in there.”

“Got i—”

“Sorry. Was on a call. How can I help you today?” An attendant asks, coming up to the car. Sayori hands the bat over to Monika as Yuri rolls down the window and they both leave the car, Monika shoving the bat into her bag.

The convenience store is, thankfully, empty save for the tired-looking cashier staring at his phone. He glances up as they come in but doesn’t say anything.

Monika and Sayori head back into the aisle near the slurpees and soft drinks; once sure they’re hidden by the shelf, Sayori leans in. “Okay! You go towards the front and pretend to look. I’ll call him over asking for help and once he’s back here knock him out!”

“If you say so.”

Monika begins towards the front, pretending to look at the concessions on the shelves and trying to keep her pace at a leisurely stroll. She hears Sayori call something — exactly what, she isn’t quite sure — and watches as the cashier dubiously steps around the counter and begins back towards her. Monika overhears the conversation as she creeps around, hand reaching towards her bag.

“I’m just kind of, um, confused as to — as to how you, uh, work this?” she hears Sayori stutter. “I’ve never been to one of these places.”

“You just pull the lever,” the cashier says flatly. Monika hears a click. “No, no! You put your cup under it first,”

“Oh, um, right. I didn’t bring a cup.”

“The cups are right—”

Sayori jumps aside as Monika hits the guy square on the back of the head and he goes down, slumping against the machine. 

“Woah! Great job!”

“You get the cash register,” Monika says, arm dropping to her side. “I’ll get the rest of the shop. Then we need to boot it before the attendant notices anything.”

 

~

 

“You guys better’ve gotten gum,” Natsuki says as Yuri pulls out of the gas station lot. Monika digs through the bag before tossing a pack into the bag. “ _ Score. _ ”

“How much did you end up stealing?” Yuri asks. “Agh. I hate calling it that. It just sounds so…  _ bad. _ ”

“There was about a hundred in the register,” Monika replies. “So… we should be good for tonight, I think.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was surprised too. I guess they get a lot of traffic from people passing through seeing as they’re the only one in town and all that.”

“Well, Yuri tipped, like, 50%, so it just about evens out,” Natsuki says sarcastically. 

“I did not! I just… I felt bad so I tipped a bit more than usual. That’s all.”

“You gave him, like, twenty extra bucks! You aren’t even supposed to tip at gas stations anyways.”

“Yes, you are.”

“That was so much fun!” Sayori gushes. “We’ve totally gotta do that again.”

“It was a robbery, not a party,” Natsuki mutters. 

“Yeah, well… robberies are fun! I mean — I guess that’s just now it is in the crime life,” she adds in a badly-faked gruff voice. Monika giggles and Yuri stifles a laugh.

“That was a pretty good distraction you pulled back there,” Monika says. “With the slurpee machine and all that. That was good thinking!”

“Thanks!” Sayori beams. “Honestly though, I didn’t learn how to use those machines until I was a first year.”

“You just pull the lever,” Natsuki says. “How is that hard?”

“I don’t know! Those machines are intimidating. I always avoided them.”

“Oh, Sayori.”

 

~

 

Monika had been bracing herself for the worst based on the reviews, but the motel isn’t exactly what she had been expecting. Whether or not that’s a bad thing, she hasn’t quite decided, but it’s definitely a  _ thing. _

The bed creaks when she sits down on it. Yuri sets down her bag on the other bed in the room, looking around disdainfully.

“...It smells weird in here.”

Monika inhales. The air faintly smells something bearing a passing resemblance to skunk, with an undertone of artificial cotton candy.

“Weed  _ and _ vape,” Natsuki comments. “The room service isn’t top notch here, is it?”

“How do you know what weed smells like?”

Natsuki makes an amused  _ pfft _ sound and drops her bag on the floor. “I’m going for a walk to check out this so-called red pool. Any of you coming with?”

“I’ll come!” Sayori offers. Monika sighs.

“I think I’m gonna stay back — you know, get settled in and all that. Definitely take pictures, though!” 

“Suit yourself,” Natsuki says. “Yuri, you coming?”

“Oh, um — I’m feeling a bit tired. I think I would rather not go this time, but do tell us how it is.”

After another few minutes of bustling about, Natsuki and Sayori leave. 

 

Yuri and Monika stay in silence for a while, aside from occasional idle chit-chat. Minutes stretch into hours and Monika ends up dozing off (a result of getting up early, she supposes).

She’s always been a light sleeper, but when she awakens to the sound of Yuri turning a page, she both curses at and simultaneously wonders just how easily she can be woken up after all. The light streaming in through the windows has begun to take on a more golden tone and she props herself up on her pillows, looking around. Sayori and Natsuki still aren’t back, and Yuri is sitting on the other bed lost in a thick novel. 

“Huh. They’ve been out for a while.” 

Yuri looks up from her book, then over at the alarm clock on the nightstand. “It’s nearly 6. Are they not back yet?” 

“No, not yet,” Monika says, frowning. “The pool couldn’t have taken them  _ this _ long.”

“Have either of them texted you?”

“Just a moment, I’ll check.”

Monika opens up her messages app and, not to her surprise, sees she has five unread messages from Natsuki, the first of which being from around 2.

**Natsuki:** Hey Monika Sayori and I are gonna check out the rest of the motel bc Sayori wants to look at the shop in the lobby aite

**Natsuki:** U know where to find us (￣▽￣)ノ

**Natsuki:** We’re gonna check out the strip mall down the street u guys wanna come?

**Natsuki:** Monikaaaaaa we’re gonna leave if u don’t respond

**Natsuki:** Okokok we left so uhhh ur gonna have to catch up if u wanna come but if u and Yuri r too busy being N E R D S that’s cool too ┐(‘～` )┌

**Monika:** just saw ur texts lmao oops anyways. where r u guys

**Natsuki:** Still at the strip mall.. Sayori won’t stop looking at the stuffed animals even tho we didn’t bring money (＃＞＜)

**Monika:** lol

**Monika:** it’s getting kinda late when do u guys think youll be back?

**Natsuki:** Idk does it matter

**Monika:** i mean not rlly but if we’re gonna get dinner or smth we shouldn’t eat too late yknow

**Natsuki:** Okkk

**Monika:** could yall be back by around 6:15ish?

**Natsuki:** Hhhsdkfhhfh finee 

**Monika:** see u then~

“They’ll be back soon,” she says to Yuri. “They were at the strip mall down the street.”

“Ah, okay, that’s fine.”

A couple more moments pass in silence.

“Hm, I don’t think I ever asked — what exactly did you guys steal from that gas station?” Yuri asks.

Rather than answering aloud, Monika reaches over to her bag and undoes the latch, emptying it out onto the bed. “Um… some chips, candy, some canned food… We were kind of rushing so I mostly just grabbed what I could.”

“Ah.” Yuri hesitates. “I hope no one called the police. That’s the last thing we need right now.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Monika reassures her. Yuri twists a lock of hair worryingly.

“Mm, I don’t know…”

“Here — I’ll check the local news,” Monika offers, pulling out her phone. She opens the news app and begins scrolling through the recent articles published locally. “Yep, nothing here. I guess that means we’re—”

Monika stops. Yuri frowns.

“What is it?”

Monika doesn’t say anything, but hands her the phone. Yuri reads the headline aloud.

“‘Unidentified Robbers steal over $120 from Washington County Gas Station.’ Oh, oh no, oh gosh—”

“Keep reading.”

“‘Police are investigating a robbery that took place shortly before 10 p.m. today. Security footage reveals the sole cashier on duty was attacked before over $120 in cash and an unreported amount of goods was…’” 

Monika finds herself spacing out as Yuri reads the article nervously. She finds it a bit hard to be worried, but then the fact that  _ isn’t _ worried begins to worry her, and she promptly decides to stop that downwards spiral and pay attention to what Yuri is saying.

“‘...The investigation is ongoing.’”

“Huh,” Monika says. “I’m surprised they got an article out that fast. Didn’t we rob the store, like, what… nine hours ago?”

“I don’t know, but however they published the article, it’s  _ out there _ now and… and...”

“Did they post the security video?”

“Um… yeah,” Yuri says. Monika sits down on the bed next to her, leaning over to see the screen. The footage is grainy and it’s difficult to make out any defining facial features,  _ thank god, _ but she can definitely see it’s her and Sayori. (Of course. She hadn’t expected it to be anyone else, really — two robberies of the same amount from the same place on the same day seems a bit ludicrous, even with the unpredictable luck she has.)

“Well, nothing we can do now,” Monika sighs. Yuri looks at her incredulously.

“But — the article says they’re still investigating. What if they figure out it’s us?”

“Then we leave again.” Catching the look on Yuri’s face, Monika continues. “You saw what the town was like — it’s small, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and it’s not very populated. They’ll probably forget about it in, like, a week. I’m being 100% sincere when I say that we have nothing to worry about right now.”

“...Okay…,” Yuri mutters, although the tension written on her face doesn’t relax just yet. “If you say so. But this still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

Monika has to admit she feels the same somewhat, but she doesn’t let herself say so. Instead, she just shrugs.

“What do you say we order in tonight when Natsuki and Sayori get back?” She asks, mostly just to change the subject. “I’m not really feeling up to going out.”

“That sounds nice,” Yuri says, although doesn’t seem quite ready to change the topic yet. “Um… you don’t think Hunter is going to find us… do you?”

“I kinda doubt it.”

“I don’t know. I just — I have the worst feeling that something, well, terrible is going to happen.” Yuri lies back on the bed, frowning up at the ceiling. “Things just don’t feel right.”

“Well, ah... Just try to get some rest. Things always seem worse when you’re tired, y’know?”

“If you say so,” Yuri sighs. She glances at Monika. “I don’t know how on Earth you’re managing to keep a level head throughout all this.”

Monika takes a deep breath and runs her fingers through her hair, smiling half-heartedly to herself. “Yeah,” she laughs. “I don’t know either.”

 

~

 

“None of these channels are good,” Natsuki says through a mouthful of pizza, hitting the “next” button on the tv remote with steadily increasing force every time. Finally, she throws it towards the end of the bed in frustration. “Ugh. I give up.”

The channel it had stopped on is a low-resolution comedy that, from the couple moments Monika bothers watching, seems to have a fondness for crude jokes and overuse of the laugh track.

“Hey, you know what would be funny?” Sayori asks mischievously. 

“What?” Yuri responds.

“If we facetimed Hunter but all we did was point the phone at the TV! He’d be all —” She giggles and puts on a badly faked low voice. “‘Yo, who is this? And why are you making me watch this terrible show, dudes? My name is Hunter and I’m a huge jerk!’”

“That right there is an  _ amazing _ impression,” Monika laughs. “It sounds more like him than he does! ….Um, seriously though, don’t Facetime him.”

“He’d be impressed at our — our awesomeness. We’re out here living the criminal life! We robbed a gas station!”

Yuri opens her mouth to respond, likely something about the article, but Monika shoots her a warning look.

_ Later _ , she mouths. Yuri closes her mouth again and nods.

“Man,” Natsuki sighs. “This whole thing has been, like, wild though.”

“Yeah! And to think that only, like, two months ago none of you were even friends with each other,” Sayori says, smiling fondly at the others. “We’ve all bonded through committing crimes together!”

“And eventually getting arrested together,” Yuri murmurs shrewdly. Sayori laughs.

“No way! We can just live our lives as… vigilantes. On the run from the law!”

“That’s… not what vigilante means.”

“Well… we may have lost our chance to finish high school like, y’know, normal teenagers, but that doesn’t mean we’re done for,” Monika sighs. “Things might not just return back to what they were like before, but—”

“Oh, please  _ don’t, _ ” Natsuki groans. At the others’ questioning looks, she rolls her eyes exasperatedly. “Okay, look, I love you guys and I think this is a really awesome group. But you know the one thing that makes things kind of weird sometimes is?”

“The whole breaking-the-law-in-extreme-ways thing?”

“We literally can’t go, like, five minutes without having some kind of fake-deep introspective conversation about how much things have changed and how profoundly obvious it is that things aren’t normal right now. And the first few times it was I guess fitting but it just  _ doesn’t stop _ . And—”

“Natsuki, I think you—”

“And everytime we’re faced with a decision,” Natsuki says loudly, speaking over Monik. “Everything that happens afterwards just makes things, like, ten times less — I don’t know,  _ logical _ ? We always go the most dramatic way anyone would ever possibly even think of and then — what, talk about how life is difficult and out of control?  _ Why? _ Like, I’m really just — can’t we just, like, talk about TV or make dick jokes or some shit like normal people for once?”

Silence. Monika bites her tongue, but when no one else seems to want to respond, she sighs.

“Natsuki, I think you need to start seeing the bigger picture here,” she says solemnly. 

“You’re not—”

“You need to understand that...  _ dicks  _ are a  _ metaphor _ for how much things have changed in our lives,” Monika says melodramatically, throwing herself down sideways onto the bed and almost knocking over the pizza box. “The… um, I don’t know — our teenage years have gotten a lot harder, similar to how—”

“Oh my god,  _ no _ , do  _ not _ , I  _ hate _ you,” Natsuki says over Sayori and Yuri’s giggles, pushing Monika away despite the fact that she’s very obviously struggling to keep a straight face. 

“Natsuki! You can’t deny the truth!”

“Do. Not!”

“Aren’t introspective conversations on how much things have changed kind of, like, 90% of manga?” Sayori asks curiously. Natsuki rolls her eyes.

“Manga is a super wide genre, Sayori. Yeah, all right,  _ some _ mangas are full of that sappy stuff. But there are mangas about almost anything you could imagine. Trying to say that  _ all manga _ is the same is like—”

Yuri lets out an odd cough into her elbow that sounds vaguely like the word “weeb”, with a pointed look to Natsuki.

“This is bullying and I won’t stand for it,” Natsuki says, resolve finally breaking as a grin spreads across her face. 

“Don’t worry, Natsuki!” Sayori exclaims. “We’re all weebs inside!”

“I wouldn’t go  _ that _ far,” Yuri says quickly. Sayori grins.

“Embrace it, Yuri, embrace it!”

“Keep it down! You’re going to get us a noise complaint — ”

“ _ That’s what she said _ ,” Natsuki says loudly through choked giggles, visibly straining not to burst into laughter. Sayori all but collapses on the other bed, cackling, and Monika can tell Yuri is holding back laughter.

“Natsuki!” Yuri exclaims instead. “That’s… lewd!”

“Really? Because it wasn’t as lewd as last night when your mom and I—”

“I’m cutting you off right now.”

“Admit it, you think they’re funny! You know Jon? The third-year? He used to react the same way, but over the course of a year, I managed to…”

 

That night, after Sayori has passed out upside-down on the bed and while Natsuki is showering, Yuri sets her phone down on the nightstand and stands up, crossing the room to retrieve her bag. The phone is still on and open to a search result page with over half the links already having been clicked. With amusement, Monika catches a glimpse of the search that Yuri had entered.

_ Funny crude jokes _


	18. Chapter 18

“There’s a diner right down the street. We could go there.”

“How do you know?”

“We passed it yesterday when we were out.”

Monika opens the bathroom door and steps out, drying her hair on a towel. 

“Hey! Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Yuri says, looking back from where she’s perched on the edge of her bed. “We were just discussing possible options for breakfast.”

“Sayori won’t get up and Yuri won’t let me wake her,” Natsuki complains. Yuri shoots her a look.

“I don’t want you yelling at this hour. People are sleeping — we’d get a complaint.”

“ _ Ugh. _ Hang on, then.”

Natsuki moves to stand up and Yuri raises her eyebrows. “Don’t splash water in her face, either.”

“Since when can you tell me what to do?” Natsuki says sharply. “If we’re leaving soon then we need to get her up.”

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay here another night,” Monika interrupts. Natsuki and Yuri turn to her, somewhat taken aback.

“That’s kind of hard to hear for this early in the morning, isn’t it?” Natsuki mutters, recovering first. She shrugs. “Fine then. Let’s just rob another place or something.”

Yuri looks to Monika with raised eyebrows, and after a moment Monika nods.

“We can’t,” Yuri says hesitantly. Natsuki raises her eyebrows.

“Why not?”

“We… got caught,” Yuri says, voice getting quieter by the word. “Um, there was… an article online and they’re investigating, but…” She trails off.

“What?”

Yuri carefully avoids her gaze. Natsuki turns to Monika.

“Monika, did you know? When did you guys find out about this?”

“We saw the article when you were out yesterday,” Monika says, choosing her words carefully. “We were going to tell you last night, but we didn’t want to worry you and Sayori. I promise we weren’t trying to keep information from you or anything.”

“You didn’t want to  _ worry  _ us?” Natsuki says loudly, standing up abruptly. “What do you think we’ve been doing for the past two days?? I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but we fucked things up at school,  _ killed my dad _ , we’re out in the middle of nowhere with no idea of where we’re going or how the hell we’re going to even survive out here — oh and, hey, now the police are actually getting involved, which would’ve been  _ really great to know _ .”

“Natsuki—”

“What’s going on?” Sayori asks drowsily, rubbing her eyes. Monika looks around at Natsuki and Yuri; Natsuki is glaring around at everyone and Yuri is vacantly staring at the door. There’s a heavy silence for a few moments before Natsuki takes a deep breath.

“What, so you guys don’t want to tell her?  _ Again _ ?” She purses her lips. “Fine then. Apparently there’s a news article on us and  _ some people _ knew about it but didn’t tell us. So, like, the cops are looking for us literally right now and — ugh.  _ Ugh. _ I can’t believe this.” 

Natsuki sits back down on the bed and rests her elbows on her knees, head in her hands. Sayori sits up slowly and looks around.

“Oh. Okay.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Natsuki snaps. Sayori tilts her head.

“Hm. Well, that’s pretty bad. But we’ve been through way worse, right? And… last night was super fun. I think if we found out last night it would have kind of ruined the mood.”

“ _ They _ found out last night,” Natsuki says sharply. “When we were gone.”

“Well, um… I’m sure they had a good reason! I’m sure they just didn’t want to worry us.”

Natsuki looks furious, but doesn’t seem to be able to think of a response. Sayori hesitates.

“Natsuki, I really don’t think they were trying to hurt us. Everything has been really tense lately and I totally understand how you’re feeling right now, but if we’re all up against each other things are only going to get worse! You’re really smart and brave and I’m sure they just thought that you could—”

“I get it,” Natsuki says shrewdly, finally looking up. There’s a tense silence for a few moments before she speaks up again in a mutter. “I can’t believe this. Let’s just go get breakfast, okay?”

 

~   
  


Monika leans back against the booth, crossing her arms as she looks around the restaurant. From what she can see the other diners consist of an elderly couple, a family with a couple of kids, a woman with uneven winged eyeliner typing at something on a laptop, and a group of giggling younger teen girls in school uniforms. The teen girls are particularly loud and she can hear parts of what they’re saying.

“Aaaah, don’t even say that!”

“But it’s true! He’s  _ always _ looking at you during Algebra…”

Natsuki rests her head down on the table, forehead hitting it with a dull thud.

“I can’t believe this,” she groans, repeating what she had said earlier.

Yuri looks on at her slightly uneasily, as if she doesn’t quite know how to react. “What? What’s wrong?”

“ _ What’s wrong? _ ” Natsuki asks incredulously. She sits up again and Monika is almost taken aback by how distressed she looks. “I’m not going back to what I was saying earlier. I just — ugh, this is so  _ stupid, _ but...” She pauses for a sec, blinking rapidly. She’s quiet when she speaks again. “I kinda wonder what my mom would think of everything that happened. About my dad and stuff. I feel like I’m letting her down right now.”

She trails off when Sayori reaches across the table to grab her hand. “Stop blaming yourself! It was his fault.”

“I’m  _ not _ blaming myself. I’m — I’m just trying to  _ think. _ ”

“He deserved what he got, Natsuki. If your mom we’re here she’d be proud of you for everything you’ve done. She probably would have helped us kill him herself if she had seen what he did!” Sayori says a little too loudly, drawing a few odd looks from the schoolgirls and the woman with the computer. Monika nudges her and she lowers her voice. “Let’s just hold tight until our food comes. We’ll all feel better once we’ve eaten something!”

“You say that with everything,” Natsuki mumbles.

“But it’s true!”

Monika laughs and, finally, there’s a hint of a smile on Natsuki’s face.

 

“We need to think about this,” Monika says slowly a bit after their food has arrived. “If we don’t have any money we don’t have anywhere to go.”

“I… Um, I think I might have an idea,” Yuri says slowly. “Please don’t count too much on it! I’m really not sure of how well it will work, but… I have an uncle, my dad’s brother, who would… understand the situation we’re in right now. I don’t know if he’s ever been in it himself but there were times when I was younger when… um…” 

Yuri trails off nervously, evidently not wanting to continue but unsure of how to end the sentence. Sayori jumps in.

“Woah, really?” she exclaims. “That’s great!”

“Um, yeah! But anyways,” Yuri continues tentatively. “I haven’t seen him since I was probably around 12 — my mom didn’t like him much — but we’ve kept in touch. Maybe… maybe we could ask if we could stay with him just for a little while, until we’ve worked something out? Or something?”

“That’s a great idea,” Monika says. “Do you know how we could contact him?”

“I know his phone number.”

“Okay, awesome! Would you mind calling him?”

“Yeah, I — yeah, of course.”

Yuri fumbles with the clasp on her bag for a few moments before getting her phone out and tapping at something on the screen, looking somewhat nervous. Sayori looks around at the others excitedly and, when no one else reciprocates the enthusiasm, leans back and crosses her arms, smile fading somewhat.

Yuri raises the phone to her ear and takes a deep breath. A couple seconds pass before she raises her eyebrows and glances to the others.

“Uncle Kaito? Um, yeah, it’s Yuri. Hello!” A pause. “Oh, ah, no, it’s not anyone’s birthday. No need to worry. I was actually calling because, um…” 

She looks to Monika and the others questioningly. Monika shrugs helplessly, but apparently Yuri’s uncle spoke up again because she holds up a finger to listen.

“How did you know? ...Oh. Well, that was, um, only for a little while… No, no, mom and dad didn’t send me, it’s sort of a long story.” A longer pause. “Um, no, I don’t think it’s related to that. It was just, um… a series of mistakes. Nothing like that, don’t worry. ...Uh-huh. …Thank you so much! We really won’t be too long, I promise, it’s just, uh… a bit of a rough situation. ...Okay. Thanks so much, we really appreciate it — oh, um, speak to them? ...Yeah, they’re here, I’ll — I’ll put on speaker.”

Natsuki raises an eyebrow and Yuri shrugs, taking the phone away from her ear. She hits the speaker button and a low voice, gruff voice answers.

“ — like to meet them. I really am glad you’ve been able to meet a group with the same interests as you! I know it’s been—”

“Um — guys, say hi,” Yuri says loudly to the others. They all say their greetings. “Uncle Kaito, this is Monika, Natsuki, and Sayori.”

“Oh, hello! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Yuri’s uncle, but y’all can call me Kaito or… well, that’s kind of all I go by, I guess.” He laughs loudly and Yuri smiles tentatively.

“Um, you still live in the same place, right?” Yuri asks. 

“Yes! Do you need directions?”

“Ah, if you could maybe text me the address, that would be great.”

“Oh, texting… well, I’ll figure it out. Where are you right now? When should I expect you by?”

“Uh, we’re not exactly sure the name of the town… we’re kind of far but we should be there by maybe this evening or tonight?”

“Great! I look forward to it, then.”

“Okay! Okay, that’s awesome! Thanks so much again, um, you really don’t know how much this is a help.”

“I’m happy to have y’all. I’ll see you tonight.”

“All right! Um, goodbye!” The others begin to say their goodbyes but Kaito speaks and they quiet down.

“Hold on just a moment, Yuri, I wanna talk to you — how do I turn off speakerphone? ...All right, I think I’ve got it.” Yuri opens her mouth to say something, reaching towards the phone, but he’s already talking again. “Real quick. You don’t need to tell me everything right now, but… be honest with me here. Is this Libitina again? I’m always happy to have you, but if this is happening again, I think you’ll probably have to stay for longer than—”

Yuri laughs loudly, loud enough that she draws a few curious glances from other people in the diner, and picks up the phone. “No, no, I — I have to turn off speakerphone on my end, just, um — just a second—”

Sayori, Natsuki, and Monika exchange confused looks as Yuri hits the speakerphone button with more force than was really necessary and holds the phone up to her ear again.

“It’s off — uh, no, it has nothing to do with that, I promise. …I know. ...No, I’m positive, really. We don’t have to go through with all that again, it’s — yeah. It’s really just a bit of drama back home, you don’t need to do that. ...Okay. ...All right, I’ll — I’ll see you tonight. ...Goodbye.”

Yuri ends the call and sets her phone down on the table, looking somewhat frazzled. “Um, all right! We have a place to stay!”

“Libi-what-now?” Natsuki asks. Yuri flinches. 

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I just — when I was younger, I sort of… it’s fine. It doesn’t matter right now. I’ll tell you later.”

“Well, I’m glad that’s settled, then!” Monika says hurriedly, shooting a look to Natsuki as she’s opening her mouth again. “Thanks for doing that, Yuri.”

“Did you say we’d be getting there tonight?” Sayori asks curiously. Yuri nods. “Oooh! Another road trip! I’m super excited!”

“...Yeah,” Yuri says quietly. “He lives sort of far out, so we should be leaving soon to get there by tonight, really.”

“We’ll leave after breakfast, then,” Monika says. The others nod and, slowly, go back to eating.

 

As Yuri looks out the diner window, lightly dragging her nails over her sleeve covering the inside of her forearm like she often does, Monika can’t help but wonder how much she doesn’t know about her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey just a heads up i’m gonna finally put this fic on an update schedule! it’s gonna be updated every other thursday (ik it’s friday today but i forgot yesterday lol)
> 
> thanks as always for reading <3


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri reveals a bit of her own background; Monika goes back on her earlier promise to Natsuki and has an introspective conversation with the group.

**_1:53 p.m._ **

**Unknown number:** Hey Monika it’s Rory

**Unknown number** : So uhhhh you know Hunter’s car and all that?

Monika leans her head against the window, frowning down at her phone. She saves the contact, acutely aware of how she  _ still doesn’t know how Rory got her number _ , before slowly typing out a response.

**Monika:** i’ve heard about it

**Rory:** I think everyone did lol

**Rory:** But like anyways. Hunter thinks it was you and I thiink he’s thinking of doing something

**Monika** : wait what

**Rory:** Yeah

**Rory:** I’m not entirely sure ofc but he and a few of his buddies have been acting a lil sketch. They aren’t at school today and idk just thought I’d tell you to keep an eye out

**Monika:** oof jeez,, thanks for the heads up

**Rory:** Yea man np

Monika clears her throat, frowning. The car has been quiet for the last hour or so, so when she speaks it seems almost too loud.

“Something’s up with Hunter.”

Yuri is on high alert in an instant. “H-Hunter? What is it?”

“Rory just texted me,” Monika explains. “They said he and a couple of his friends aren’t at school today.”

“They’re probably just skipping,” Natsuki says bluntly from the backseat. Monika purses her lips, thinking.

“I guess so. But I still don’t think Hunter won’t do anything, y’know? He seems like the type to try to get back at people.”

“What’s he gonna do? Call us crazy bitches and spread rumors about us?” Natsuki scoffs. “It’s not like they can find us. And even if they did, they wouldn’t drive all this way. We’re, like, seven hours from home.”

“Um, we’re— we’re actually a little easier to get to once we get there,” Yuri corrects her. “It’s a long drive from the motel to his house, but the routes are a bit odd… driving from our town to Kaito’s house would only take around 3 or 4 hours, not the 7 it’s going to take us. And we have to stop for food and breaks and the like, so, um… the trip ends up being a bit more difficult for us…”

“Well, ah, that’s all right,” Monika says, having not been expecting that. “They still won’t go that far. And anyways, we’re in a much more stable position now.” 

“The fact that  _ this _ situation is more stable than what we’ve been through so far is kind of depressing to think about,” Natsuki says under her breath. No one seems to really find a response.

Monika looks out the window for the first time in a little while. They’re still on the highway and, although traffic has been all right up until now, it’s beginning to slow down. 

“Can we stop soon?” Natsuki asks. Yuri frowns.

“We stopped only a couple of hours ago for lunch… could it wait?”

“I’m just so  _ bored _ ,” she groans. Monika raises an eyebrow, glancing to the backseat.

“What happened to all the talk about how unusual our situation is?”

“So? I can still be bored even in a bad situation.”

“Let’s wait a little longer before we stop again,” Yuri says decisively. “I don’t us to take too many stops and arrive too late.”

Natsuki drums her fingers on the car seat. “Hey Yuri,” she says after a couple minutes. “What’s that thing Kaito was talking on the phone about back at the diner? Something with an L? And don’t say it’s nothing, either,” she adds sharply. “You definitely said you’d tell us.”

Yuri presses her lips together. Sayori gives Natsuki a disapproving look.

“You don’t have to, Yuri! It’s ok if you want to keep some things private.”

“It started when I was very young,” Yuri begins quietly, seemingly unaware of what Sayori had said. “Probably no older than two years old. I can’t exactly remember all of it but I know what happened because of what Kaito told me and because it continued throughout most of my early childhood. I had a lot of, um… violent outbursts that got more and more extreme as I got older and I had to go to Kaito’s house because my parents thought he may know what to do and after a while — I’m talking really fast. Am I going too fast? I feel like I am. I should slow down. Um. Wow.”

Yuri lets out a high laugh. No one says anything and, after a couple deep breaths, Yuri seems to find it in herself to continue.

“Ah, I forgot about… Libitina is what Kaito called — when I had the outbursts I sort of turned into an entirely different person. I lost all control and often had trouble remembering some of what had happened during the episodes. He nicknamed the unstable state Libitina.”

“Like the Roman Goddess,” Sayori says thoughtfully. She looks surprised when everyone turns to look at her. “What?”

“Um, yes, that’s where the name came from,” Yuri says somewhat awkwardly. “The Roman Goddess of burial — how did you know?”

“History! I like paying attention to the mythological units… Oh, but the thing about your outbursts is rough. I’m sorry to hear about that.”

“You seem to be getting better, at least,” Monika says. “Right? I mean, I never would have been able to tell.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Yuri mumbles. “Ah — could we not talk about this anymore?”

 

 

~

 

A few more hours pass, and everyone is beginning to get restless. They’ve gotten off the highway, and have by now began down a wide but empty road in a town with spaced-apart houses and an apparent fondness for trees. Once 5:00 rolls around, Monika hears someone unbuckle in the backseat, and turns to see Natsuki sitting upside-down in the car seat, head nearly touching the ground of the car as she taps away at something on her phone.

“Natsuki, um, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Monika says. Natsuki blows a raspberry in response. Yuri angles the rearview mirror and frowns before turning back ahead. Monika watches in amusement as a small bird ahead on the road and Yuri promptly steps on the breaks; There’s a telltale thud and a groan from the backseat.

“ _ Fuck _ — what’s your problem!?”

“There was a bird,” Yuri says smoothly. Natsuki swings her legs, trying to get herself dislodged from between her seat and the back of Yuri’s. 

“Bullshit,” she spits, finally managing to wriggle free and sit back on the seat, correctly this time. Yuri bites her lip, trying to hide her smile, and Natsuki wrinkles her nose as she catches sight of Monika and Sayori giggling. “I can’t believe I got stuck with you three of all people.”

“Well, you got lucky! No one else would have handy resources like… knives.”

“Or lack of morals,” Natsuki snickers. “What are the odds of us all being on board with all this? Or, like, even beginning to talk in the first place?”

Monika smiles, leaning against the headrest and looking out the window at the blur of trees and houses (the latter of which is decreasing in number rather quickly).

“I’ve kinda been thinking about that lately, actually,” she admits. “Like, what could have happened if Sayori hadn’t tried so hard to get us all to talk. Things would have gone a lot differently.”

There’s a bit of a silence in response to that. Monika doesn’t think much of it until she hears someone in the backseat sniff and turns back to see Sayori smiling sadly down at her hands, which are closed into fists in her lap.

“I’m sorry,” she says quietly, her voice uncharacteristically solemn despite the half-grin plastered on her face. “I really did drag you guys into this, didn’t I?”

“Oh, nonono, that’s not what I meant,” Monika says quickly. “I was just thinking out loud. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad — none of this is your fault. I wasn’t trying to make it seem that way.” 

As she’s speaking, her words sound forced even to her own ears. She honestly hadn’t been trying to blame Sayori, but her apology is only half true.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to sugarcoat things,” Sayori says. Monika falters. “I think — I think you’ve all thought about it at some point or another anyways.”

Natsuki shoots Monika a look, half accusatory and half nervous as Sayori rubs at her eyes with her sleeve and sighs.

“Sorry. I wasn’t trying to get all — I’m just really tired.”

“Sayori,” Natsuki starts hesitantly. “Look, we… none of us are blaming you for this, y’know. None of this is your fault…”

She trails off awkwardly, looking to Monika for help. Monika takes a deep breath.

“That’s not true,” she says decisively after a long moment. Natsuki’s eyes widen and her lips tighten in a way that ask  _ what-the-fuck-are-you-doing? _

Monika glances towards Yuri, who’s staring at the road ahead. She almost would have thought she had completely spaced out, if Yuri hadn’t been gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles are white.

“Do you want me to be real here for a second?” Monika asks. Sayori nods. “Okay. I’m gonna cut the bullshit — it’s kinda your fault. I think I can speak for Natsuki and Yuri when I say we never would have started talking if it hadn’t been for you. But—”

“ _ Mon _ ika,” Natsuki whispers through gritted teeth, but Monika continues without listening.

“But that’s kind of the whole thing. We’ve  _ all _ fucked up a ton and, honestly, we never would have been in this situation if it was only you messing up. I mean, I went after Hunter’s car. Yuri held Hunter at knifepoint. Natsuki… um, I think Natsuki has been mostly all right so far, actually.”

“Are you  _ kidding  _ me?” Natsuki says incredulously. “Hello? First act of violence  _ and _ the reason we left town were both my dad, if you do recall.”

“That was your dad’s fault, though.”

“But—”

“Point is, Sayori,” Monika says. “If we blamed you for this we’d have to start blaming everyone. Don’t hold yourself responsible for this whole shitstorm. We’ve all screwed up and now we just have to grit our teeth and deal with whatever’s going on right now as a result of it.”

“Um,” Yuri says, hardly louder than a mumble. “And… well, you had good intentions throughout this whole thing, which isn’t something we could all say about ourselves. You couldn’t have known introducing your friends to each other would have turned into a… a major ordeal.”

Sayori sniffs again and looks up at the others, smile still sad but not quite as much as before. “Thanks, guys.”

The proceeding silence is somewhat awkward. Monika drums her fingers on the sides of her seat. She can hear Natsuki cracking her knuckles in the backseat.

“Can we stop for food?” Natsuki asks. Yuri nods in agreement, much more open to the idea now.

“I think it would be good to get a break from the car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> damn it monika always with the introspective conversations


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika is acutely aware of the underlying tension amongst the group that hadn’t been there before.

“The worst group project I was ever in was probably… a slideshow presentation for History during my second year in middle school,” Yuri says. “I did all the work, but we were graded individually and I got a much lower score than the other people because I apparently wasn’t involved enough in group discussions.”

“That’s rough,” Natsuki says. “Who was in the group?”

“Um… I don’t quite remember.”

“Aw. Isn’t it Lesinski who taught second year History? She was always rough.”

“Yeah, she… tended to favor the more outgoing students.”

“Natsuki, your turn,” Monika says. Natsuki scratches her chin.

“Hmm. The worst group project I’ve ever been in was…. my conception.”

“Natsuki.”

“I’m being real here! All my school group projects sucked. I can’t choose just onel.”

“Then the most significant one,” Yuri suggests. Natsuki frowns.

“Um… last year. The Geometry I project. We were in partners and I got put with Riku because we live near each other.”

“That’s not too bad. He’s smart, right?”

“I mean, I guess, but he’s  _ so. Annoying. _ And his whole house smells like mustard.”

“What was the project?”

“Some packet. I don’t know. Every time I did something he went off about how it’s wrong and ended up re-doing everything himself.”

“What did you get on it?”

“...An A,” Natsuki says begrudgingly. “But I would rather have worked with someone else and have gotten a bad grade instead of putting up with him that long.”

“Do you think he’s told anyone else that you aren’t with your dad?” Sayori asks. Natsuki frowns.

“I think most people have pieced that together by now.”

Natsuki is quiet for a moment.

“Do you think they’ll find out about him?”

“We did a good job of hiding the — of, um, covering everything up,” Monika stammers. “Why, is there something in particular?”

“He didn’t get out that much, so I guess not,” Natsuki says. “Except… um, he had work. It stressed him out a lot and he was always saying he’s quit but — I dunno. They’ll probably just assume he’s, like — ugh. I don’t want to think about this right now.”

There’s a pause in the conversation. 

“Um, Monika, what was your worst group project?” Yuri asks, clearly struggling to save the previous lighthearted mood. 

“Hunter,” Monika says without skipping a beat. “The Coding project a little while ago. That was kind of… the catalyst for all the drama with whatever-her-name-was and everything after that.”

“Do you mean the thing with Lila?”

“Yeah, her. I forgot her name.”

“How? I dunno about you, but if I was in a situation like that, it’d be kinda hard to forget names,” Natsuki says shrewdly. Monika shrugs.

“Hunter conveniently forget her name pretty well. I was less involved with her than he was, anyways, so I get more of a pass.”

“I wonder how she’s been handling this whole thing.”

“That circle would go through a week — or even less — of melodrama before everyone moves on,” Yuri says quietly. “I think this may go on longer than that after what we did, though.”

Monika presses her lips together for a moment before letting out a laugh. “ _ Why _ did we smash up his car again? How did we get from Point A to Point B there?”

“That’s what I’ve been asking this  _ whole time _ !” Natsuki bursts out. Sayori giggles.

“When you think about it, it’s a good thing we  _ did _ go out and wreck the car when we did,” Sayori points out. “If we hadn’t, Natsuki’s dad would have been able to check her out of school and we wouldn’t be there to help out. Hunter being a jerk kind of helped Natsuki in the end!”

The car is silent for a moment.

“Woah,” Natsuki says slowly.

Another lull in conversation begins but, sending this, Monika rushes to begin another discussion.

“Did you go yet for the group project question, Sayori?”

“Ooh, not yet! Let me think…” Sayori taps her chin thoughtfully. “One time on an art project my group got a bad grade because we didn’t turn it in.”

“Oh my gosh, we forgot about the art project,” Yuri gasps. “Wasn’t it due yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Sayori confirms. “I was going to tell you, but I didn’t think it mattered much at this point. Maybe Jay turned it in for us?”

“But then we’re going to get a significant point deduction at the very least,” Yuri groans. “I can’t believe we forgot. We’ve been working on that for — two? — two months now.”

It’s times like this when Monika wonders how on earth Yuri can be so wild at times.

“It’s fine! What’s our average in Art going to do, anyways?”

“It can impact our — our… college choices…”

“Assuming you’re just taking it for credits, that’s… really not true,” Natsuki pipes in. “And even if you weren’t, it’s not like we can really worry about college at this point.

Yuri is silent and Monika glances over to see that she’s furrowing her brow, looking almost distraught.

Her voice is faint when she finally says, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” 

The next half hour or so seems significantly subdued as the weight of what had been said begins to sink in, and then they arrive.

 

~

 

“Number 47 should be right around… ah, here we are!” Yuri says, turning into the driveway of a small yellow house with a porch in the front. Monika steps out as soon as the car stops, first looking up and down the street and then at the house itself. 

The street is rather short, only about five or so houses from one end to the other; one side of the road ends on a dead end in front of what looks like a small park. The house is just a tad bit run down — not off-putting, but a new paint job wouldn’t hurt — and the porch has a couple armchairs and a row of potted plants.

“Let’s go around back,” Yuri says, locking the car and nodding towards the end of the driveway.

As they round the house and step up onto the back porch, a paper taped to the back door comes into view. Yuri gingerly breaks the tape and squints down at the note. 

“What’s it say?”

“‘Hello! I’m very sorry, had to run out. Urgent work matter. I may not be back for a couple days. Help yourself to anything and call me once you get settled in. Kaito.’” Yuri sighs, looking somewhat disappointed. “Well, it’s… I suppose it’s not quite unheard of. He tends to have somewhat of a sporadic work schedule, which leads to him being away semi-frequently.”

“Oh. How will we get in, then?” Sayori asks. Yuri crosses the porch to the row of potted plants on the edge and, without hesitation, lifts up the pot of small red flowers near the end. There’s a key lying underneath.

“He always keeps a spare nearby,” she explains, returning to the door and unlocking it. “It gets moved from place to place but it can most commonly be found under the flowerpots.”

She steps inside, nodding at the others to follow. Monika lets Natsuki and Sayori in first, shutting the door behind her as Yuri turns on the light. 

The inside of the house is slightly small but not uncomfortably so. They’re in the living room amidst a couch, a bookshelf, a piano, and various knick-knacks on the mantle. 

“I’ll call him,” Yuri says as the others look around. “I suspect he’ll just want to know how our trip was.”

 

After a quick call with Kaito, in which Yuri told him a bit about the car ride and a short summary of their situation (glossing over the murder and focusing mostly on Hunter and the robbery, Monika noticed), they begin settling in. Yuri leads them to the two guest rooms, one with a bunk bed (Sayori claims the top immediately) and the other with two twins. 

The room with the two twin beds is significantly more personalized than the one with the bunks. The dresser has a radio and a stack of CDs on top, and there are a few framed photos hanging on the walls. Monika’s eyes rest on a small bookshelf in the far corner.

“Yuri, is this your room?”

“Yes!” Yuri replies, looking pleased that she had noticed. “I always stayed in this room when I was here. It’s been a little while, but I don’t think he’s changed much about it.”

“I think I’ll bunk with Sayori,” Natsuki says. Glancing at Yuri, she quickly elaborates, “None of you can wake her up in the morning except me, so getting up would be a lot easier. Also, bunk beds are fun.”

“Okay,” Monika says. “I’ll stay in here with Yuri, then.”

“Great!” Yuri says. “You can all unpack and settle in, then— I’ll be back in a moment.”

Monika drops her bag on the bed closer to the door and looks to Natsuki; they both shrug.

“Is Sayori still in the other room?”

“Yeah, I think,” Natsuki says. She glances towards the doorway, then leans in and lowers her voice. “So is Yuri’s uncle just gonna be, like, home for a few days? What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know,” Monika admits. “...All that stuff about Libitina was pretty intense, huh?”

“Um,  _ yeah _ , that’s one word for it,” Natsuki says through her teeth, widening her eyes. “That really freaked me out! What happens if she has an outburst? What are we supposed to do in that type of situation?”

Monika thinks back to when Yuri had pulled a knife on Hunter, then to when she had stabbed the car seat, and last to when she had attacked Natsuki’s dad, and her unusual behavior afterwards all three times. Another memory comes to mind, of the first time she had ever encountered Yuri; how, when she had bumped into her, what Monika thinks had been a pocket knife fell to the ground. 

“I… think she’s had them around us before,” Monika says slowly. “And I think there’s definitely something about her — um, Libitina that isn’t entirely… gone, I guess?”

Natsuki’s eyebrows fly up. “What? What do you mean?”

“Well… there was — ”

Yuri calls something from the other room and Monika cuts herself off abruptly. Natsuki presses her lips together.

“Just a second,” Monika calls back. She nods for Natsuki to follow as she heads out into the hallway; Sayori is already ahead of them. They find Yuri in the kitchen, inspecting the label on what looks like a bottle of—

“Yuri! Is that wine??” Sayori exclaims, shocked. Yuri looks up.

“Yes, I was wondering if any of you wanted some?”

“What? No, no, you can’t — do you — why are you — what?” Sayori splutters. Natsuki clamps a hand over her own mouth, shoulders shaking in laughter. Yuri looks surprised at their reactions, glancing at the bottle then back at them.

“Uh, I… is there… an issue?”

“I just, um, didn’t think you were the drinking type,” Monika says slowly, trying to refrain from laughing. Yuri raises an eyebrow.

“Yuri, that’s alcohol!” Sayori finally manages to get out. “You’re underage!”

Yuri looks perplexed. “I… I don’t quite see your point.” By this point, Natsuki has given up on trying to muffle her laughter, doubled over and practically howling.

“It’s — that’s illegal,” Sayori explains hopelessly. “Are you allowed to do that?”

“Yes,” Yuri says slowly. “I was always allowed to have it — is it really illegal?”

Sayori sputters incorehently for a moment and Monika rests a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not a big deal,” she says, mostly to Yuri. “I’m good for now, though, thanks.”

Natsuki takes a deep, shuddering breath, clearly struggling to get a hold on herself. “Oh my god,” she manages. Yuri doesn’t respond, for a moment reverting back to the mute version of herself Monika had known before. Natsuki notices this, too, and runs a hand through her hair. “I mean — just, like Sayori’s reaction—”

“ _ Wine? _ ” is all Sayori can say, and Natsuki doubles into laughter again. Sayori notices Yuri’s suddenly subdued air and rushes to elaborate. “Don’t feel bad, Yuri! It’s just — I had no clue you drank, especially since — wow. Sorry. It’s not your fault or anything, I’m just…  _ wine? _ ”

Monika cringes and, struggling to save the situation, speaks again. “Hey, um, how about we watch a movie or something?”

“It’s all right,” Yuri says. “You don’t have to try to — I appreciate it, but… well. I suppose it has been a bit of an odd day for me.”

There’s an awkward silence. Yuri hesitates on what do with the wine bottle, before evidently deciding that it doesn’t matter and uncorking it. 

“...Can I try?” Sayori asks. Natsuki nudges her. “What?”

“Oh — sure.”

“I think a movie  _ would _ be a good idea,” Sayori says thoughtfully. Yuri frowns, pausing in her pouring. 

“Do you guys really want to?”

Monika and Sayori nod and, after a few seconds, Natsuki shrugs in a sort of indifferent way. Sayori’s eyes widen.

“ _ The Princess Bride _ !”

“Pardon?” Yuri asks. 

“ _ The Princess Bride, _ ” Sayori repeats. “You’ve never heard of it??”

“I don’t believe I have…”

“I haven’t either,” Natsuki says. Sayori’s eyes widen even further.

“That’s it, then! We’re watching that tonight!” She begins towards the living room.

“Sayori, um, your wine,” Yuri reminds her. Sayori turns back and takes the glass Yuri is holding out to her.

“Right! Thanks!” A mischievous grin spreads across her face. “I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

She takes a small sip. Almost immediately, her face scrunches up. Natsuki snickers.

“Not what you thought,” she comments. Sayori shakes her head.

“I suppose it’s a bit of an acquired taste…,” Yuri says. Sayori grimaces, taking another tentative sip and wrinkling her nose. 

“Why keep drinking it if it tastes bad?” Natsuki asks. Sayori puffs out her chest.

“Because I’m mature enough to handle it now! That’s just how it is when you drink alcohol.”

Yuri suppresses a laugh. “So, um, is the movie On Demand?”

“Ooh! Yeah! Let’s go watch!”

“Dibs on the armchair—” Natsuki begins.

“Not if I beat you to it,” Sayori exclaims, brushing past her and hurrying into the living room. Natsuki hurries after her, shouting something.

“Sayori, be careful with the wine!” Yuri squeaks, starting after them while paying special mind to the glass in her hand. Monika is left alone in the kitchen.

She would never mention it to the others, but things aren’t quite the same as they used to be amongst them. Not enough so that it’s difficult to be in a group — any sign of a change wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone watching them — but there’s an underlying uncomfortableness that hadn’t been there before, even during the early stages of their friendship when they were just beginning to become familiar to each other. Monika isn’t even sure if the others have noticed it or if it’s just her imagination. But there seems to be almost a hint of tension in every conversation.

Well. Monika can think of closer friends that she’s had for far longer than the other three that she wouldn’t want to be living with, especially in a rough situation. Strain is inevitable during something like this.

“Monika! We’re starting!” Sayori calls from the other room, snapping Monika back to reality. 

“Coming,” Monika says, stepping out of the kitchen and rounding the corner into the living room. 

As she takes a seat next to Yuri on the couch and Sayori plays the movie, Monika squeezes her eyes shut and vows to put aside her thoughts. At least for tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m 6 minutes late.... it’s 12:06am here which means it’s officially friday :( im sorry, posting schedule, ive failed you yet again


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monika used to wonder if the others’ odd personalities were a result of drugs.
> 
> Now, she can’t help but think that getting high would make everyone a bit easier to be around.

The next few days pass remarkably calmly. It’s a stark contrast to the three days leading up to their arrival; the nonstop tension compared to the calmness is nearly unsettling. 

Monika spends a lot of time sleeping (rest had been difficult with the stress of leaving town), as do the others. By the fourth day there, Monika feels better than she has in awhile.

“Good morning!”

Apparently, so does Yuri.

“It’s past noon,” Natsuki points out. Yuri nods.

“Yes, well… Sayori just woke up, so I felt it would be appropriate,” she says, sitting down at the breakfast table where everyone is eating. Sayori scoops up another handful of dry cereal and stuffs it into her mouth.

“Anhs, Euri,” she says with her mouth full.

“Ugh, don’t talk while you’re eating,” Natsuki says. Sayori chews for a few moments.

“Thanks, Yuri.” she repeats. Yuri nods.

“Um, well, I was thinking…,” Yuri starts. “There isn’t that much to do in this town, but it may be nice to go out today. Everyone can begin to feel a bit pent-up after staying inside for too long, so I think it would benefit us all.”

“Anywhere in particular?” Monika asks. Yuri hesitates.

“Well, there’s a cliff nearby with a nice view of the town and the surrounding areas… um, it would be nice to go there, perhaps?”

Natsuki nods thoughtfully. “Yeah, we could go tonight.”

“Oh, that’s a nice idea! The drive is a bit rough at times but it’s nice to stay up there a while. When I was younger, we...”

Monika’s eyes drift over to Sayori, who she notices has been rather quiet. She doesn’t look necessarily worried, or anything, but certainly preoccupied. She looks up and catches Monika’s eye.

_ You okay? _ Monika mouths. Sayori shrugs and flashes a half-hearted smile that looks more like a grimace than anything.

_ Don’t worry, _ Sayori mouths back. Monika frowns but Sayori has already looked back down at her bowl.

“...without it being too much trouble,” Yuri is saying. “Um, I suppose we could follow that plan if we decide to go.”

“Yeah, and then we can see everything at night,” Natsuki agrees. She notices Monika listening. “What do you think?”

“Um…”

“We were thinking of driving out to the cliff tonight,” Yuri fills her in. “I suggested we leave before the sun sets, so we can watch the sunset from the cliff and then stay there for a little while after dark.”

Sayori stands up and, after dropping off her bowl in the sink, shuffles off towards the bedrooms. Monika watches her go somewhat worriedly, taking a bite of her sandwich, before turning her attention back to Yuri and Natsuki.

“Oh, that’d be nice!” Monika says, but Sayori is still on her mind and she ends up sounding a bit deadpan even to her own ears. She tries to inject more feeling into her voice. “We need gas in the car, though.”

“I can go out today and get it,” Natsuki offers. “I need to get outta here for a little while.”

“Okay! That sounds good!”

Monika smiles and takes a few more bites of her sandwich before setting the crusts down on her plate. “I’m gonna go do my hair,” she says, standing up. She throws out the rest and sets her plate down in the sink, then sets off through the dining room and living room.

Once she reaches the hallway, she knocks on the door to Natsuki and Sayori’s room. There’s a  _ thud _ from inside and, after an incoherent mutter, a startled-sounding “Oh, um, yes?”

“Ah — you good?”

There’s the sound of footsteps and the door opens. Monika steps in, shutting the door again behind her. Sayori is standing in the center of the room, her backpack on the ground with things spilling out of it.

“What’s all this?” Monika asks, gesturing to the bag and the items as Sayori sits down on the bed.

“Ah, that? It’s, um, it’s nothing,” Sayori says unconvincingly, tapping her index fingers together absentmindedly. Monika raises her eyebrows.

“You’re a terrible liar, y’know,” she laughs. Sayori doesn’t respond and, after a moment, Monika drops her gaze to the floor. From what she can see, some of the things that had been in the bag include a couple books Monika had seen Sayori reading earlier and Sayori’s toiletries bag; slowly, she looks around to see Sayori’s duffel bag against the wall with a few crumpled clothes tossed haphazardly inside.

“You aren’t leaving,” Monika says flatly, meeting her eyes again. Sayori shifts.

“Well, about that…”

Monika waits for her to continue. She doesn’t. Monika sighs and next to her on the bed.

“What’s going on?”

“Um, it’s nothing… don’t worry about me.”

“You can’t just go off on your own and expect us not to worry about you. Did something happen?”

There’s a few moments where Sayori is evidently torn between telling Monika what’s going on and brushing it off, before she lets out a slow breath.

“All I’m doing here is dragging you guys down… I don’t want to continue being a burden to you anymore.”

“What?”

Sayori doesn’t say anything else. Monika frowns, the sudden change in personality throwing her off-guard.

“Sayori, you… aren’t dragging us down at all. We couldn’t make it through this without you.”

“You wouldn’t  _ be _ in this without me!” Sayori bursts out. “I’m the one who got you into all this! You may not see it but this whole thing is my fault and all I’m doing is hurting you guys by staying.”

“I—”

“Please don’t try to stop me. I’m trying to take responsibility for my actions, so… please just trust me when I say I know what I’m doing.”

Sayori drags a hand over her eyes. Monika finds herself at a loss for words. Sayori takes a deep breath.

“I don’t—”

The door opens and they both look up. Natsuki and Yuri are standing in the doorway.

“...We interrupting something?” Natsuki asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh, s-sorry to barge in on your conversation,” Yuri says, stepping back. “Please don’t mind us…” Monika looks to Sayori, who shakes her head.

“No, don’t worry… Actually, I...”

She trails off. Natsuki is frowning down at the bag, which is still on the ground with Sayori’s things half spilling out.

“What’s all this?”

“I, um…”

Yuri is standing, frozen to the spot, staring at the duffel bag against the wall. Natsuki looks up to meet Sayori’s eyes.

“Tell me you aren’t planning to leave.”

“I… um…”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I’m… I don’t want to hold you guys back anymore.”

Natsuki steps inside and crosses her arms almost nervously. “W-what?”

“You’re all in this situation because of me, and all I do is keep messing up, and… I’m taking things into my own hands.”

Natsuki sits down on the carpet. “I don’t… what are you talking about? Where’s this coming from?”

Sayori slides down off the bed, sitting on the ground and leaning back against the bed. Yuri stays standing, staring at Sayori with a certain intensity that nearly makes Monika wince. 

“It’s always been here,” Sayori says, punctuated with an odd choked-up sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. “You’re just… You just haven’t seen it ‘till now.”

Natsuki looks to Monika for help. Monika presses her lips together.

“Sayori…,” she starts. “I know you’re feeling guilty for whatever reason, but… we really do need you here as part of the group, y’know. And I know how you may be feeling, but trust me when I say none of us are—”

“None of you are blaming me, I know!” Sayori exclaims. Everyone startles a bit at the sudden vehemence and Sayori grabs her hair in frustration. “That’s the issue! I’ve done all these — these bad things and I’ve hurt you all so much and you  _ don’t see it _ ! I keep messing up over and over and I’ve held you all back so many times and no one is saying anything about it. And by now, I don’t think you ever will, but  _ I _ do and  _ I’m _ the only one who’s going to make me live up to it, you know?” Her voice cracks.

Monika can’t find a response; Natsuki looks rather worried and uneasy; Yuri has tensed up. Sayori’s hands drop to her lap and when she looks up her eyes are bright with tears.

“So just… let me do this,” she says quietly. “Forget about me once I’m gone, okay? You’re all better off without me anyways.”

“Sayori—”

Natsuki stops short at the sound of someone taking a deep breath, as if surfacing from being underwater for a long time. They all turn to see Yuri, staring intently at the carpet, breathing in deep, ragged gasps.

“Yuri?” Monika says. Yuri snaps her head up to look at her and Monika feels a twist of dread somewhere deep in the pit of her stomach.

The look in her eyes isn’t what it should be, but it’s not the wild look of Libitina. It’s something sharper, harsher — and yet, it’s undeniably still Yuri, and that’s what sends a chill spiraling down Monika’s back.

“You can’t leave,” Yuri whispers, gaze flicking to Sayori, who looks like she’s trying to hold in the tears that are beginning to spill down her cheeks. “Not now. Not when we’re this far.”

“I…”

“Haven’t you ever stopped to think about how we’re going to fall apart when you’re gone?” Yuri asks sharply. “Or are you just too caught up in your self-pity to think about how it may affect the rest of us?”

“I’m — I’m not — ”

“Yuri, _ stop it _ ,” Natsuki hisses. Yuri ignores her.

“You didn’t,” Yuri answers, standing up. Sayori winces at the sudden movement. “If you’re so intent on blaming yourself for all this, then live up to it and don’t run from what you view as your mistakes.”

“Shut up!” Natsuki snaps, grabbing Yuri’s wrist. “Just shut up! How the hell do you not see that you’re just making things worse?”

“ _ I’m _ making things worse?”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it? Just — you’re so  _ unhinged _ sometimes!”

“If I was unhinged, I would constantly act like I’m the person who knows what they’re doing despite everything that’s been happening!”

“What are you even  _ saying _ ?” Natsuki asks incredulously. “Literally none of us can even understand what you’re trying to communicate right now!”

“Of course you wouldn’t! You—”

“Both of you sit down,” Monika cuts in sharply. They both turn to glare at her.

“This doesn’t involve y—”

“You’re involving all of us in this by doing this right now.  _ Sit down _ and  _ shut up _ .”

Natsuki doesn’t move, but seems to have the sense to not say anything else; Yuri stares at Monika for a moment before striding over to the mirror on the wall. Monika stands up as she looks into it for a few long seconds and, as Yuri’s arm pulls back, hand clenched into a fist, Monika grabs her wrist.

“Yuri,  _ stop it! _ ”

“Let — let go of me—”

Yuri twists in Monika’s grip, whipping around to face her, and Monika grabs her shoulders and yanks her backwards; Yuri stumbles back and falls onto the ground. 

Impact and then, settling like dust,

silence.

Yuri is holding herself up on one elbow, looking shocked. Sayori is crying freely now. Natsuki looks uneasy. Monika’s heart is thudding. 

Monika isn’t sure how much time passes without anyone moving. It could be a few seconds or a few minutes — she can’t tell. Once the situation sets in, she’s the first to move, straightening up and dropping her hands, clenched into fists, to her sides.

“You all need to cut the bullshit,” Monika snaps. Her words sound sharp in the silence. “Get a grip, would you? None of you are acting like yourselves.”

No response.

“No one’s leaving right now. No one’s going and  _ freaking out _ on other people. And  _ certainly  _ no one’s going to go and whine over what everyone else is doing because,  _ guess what, _ the situation’s hard and you’re going to have to suck it up and fucking deal with it.”

Slowly, Natsuki sits again. Yuri still looks nearly frozen but, gradually, manages to push herself up to a sitting position. Monika lets out a long breath through her teeth before leaning back against the wall next to the mirror.

She looks at the others with a hollow feeling in her stomach. It’s almost like being in a room full of strangers — distance separating everyone from one another. But she knows that’s not entirely true; if she  _ were _ among unfamiliar people, the ringing in her ears wouldn't be quite so loud. Memories of their school days are half-occurring to her, recent yet faraway.

Monika used to wonder if the others’ odd personalities were a result of drugs.

Now, she can’t help but think that getting high would make everyone a bit easier to be around.

 

Sayori is the first to break the silence, her voice thin.

“What now?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s been four weeks i’m so sorry... band camp and then the start of school kicked my ass but i’m back and ready to get back on schedule :-) 
> 
> i rewrote this chapter about three times and i’m still not entirely happy with all of it but it’s definitely an improvement from the first draft... big big big changes were made but believe me when i say this is the best vers of this chapter haha
> 
> thanks as always for reading <3


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group makes a decision.

“What now?”

Ringing silence.

Monika takes her ponytail out and runs a hand through her hair. Sayori swallows hard.

“Can we stay like this?” She asks quietly. “Is it really okay to stay as a group when we’re all… when we’re all like this?”

Natsuki shakes her head. “No. It isn’t.”

Sayori doesn’t reply. Monika lets out a long breath through her teeth and the others look up as she sits down against the wall.

“We’re stopping this right here, right now,” she says flatly. “No more of this dramatic shit. We have bigger things to worry about.”

“This isn’t just ‘dramatic shit,’” Natsuki says sharply. “We can’t deal with the bigger things until we figure this out.”

“Yes, we can. We can’t waste time over petty fights like this when there are issues like what we’re dealing with at hand.”

“Well, we’re going to have to,” Natsuki snaps. “I get that you’re too high and mighty to realize this, but this _petty fight_ could be endgame, you know? Like it or not, we have to deal with this because there’s no way in hell we’re gonna last when we’re like this. It may seem like just bullshit to you but it’s going to bite us all in the ass.”

Monika can’t find a response and Natsuki’s lips tighten. Yuri speaks for the first time in a few minutes now, voice barely above.

“Sh-she’s right, you know,” she says uneasily. Natsuki glances at her for a moment before looking back to Monika, who can’t help but roll her eyes.

“Fine. What do you guys want to do, then?”

“It — it’s not that s-simple…,” Yuri mumbles. Sayori’s lips tighten. Monika raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, it is. You want to leave or you don’t.”

“You’re so one-sided,” Natsuki says shrewdly. Monika lets out a little laugh at that but Natsuki ignores it. “Things aren’t just black or white like that.”

“It, um, it is a big decision,” Sayori agrees tentatively. “We need to think about it for a little while instead of just jumping in, y’know?”

Monika looks away from the others, focusing her exasperated look on the ceiling instead, and takes another deep breath. “Fine. Let’s all just go to separate rooms for now and when we’ve all stressed about it enough to make a decision we’ll talk about it again.”

“Sounds great,” Natsuki says flatly. There’s a moment where no one moves before Monika pushes off the wall and crosses the room.

She can feel the others’ eyes on her back as she closes the door behind her.

 

~

 

No one makes a move to talk as a group again anytime that afternoon. The sky begins to streak with red, then fade into a dark navy, and Monika hears someone walking around outside, but doesn’t leave the room. She isn’t sure where Yuri is — she hadn’t tried to go in their room, and Monika hadn’t asked. 

She half suspects the others are together. Or at least not locked up in individual rooms like she is. Frankly, she doesn’t really care as much as she probably should; maybe it’s the aftershock of the fight, or maybe she’s just exhausted, but despite feeling like anything but isolation is only going to lead to more issues, she doesn’t bother making an effort to stop it. 

_ If they want to fall apart together, let them, right? _

Monika isn’t quite sure when she falls asleep, but a quiet knock on the door, accompanied by a hesitant “Monika?” is what jolts her awake some time later. From what she can see through the window, it’s pitch black outside.

“Yeah?” She asks, trying and failing somewhat to sound like she didn’t just wake up. The doorknob turns and the door opens a crack; Sayori peers inside, looking almost apprehensive.

“Um, Yuri wants to talk to you. We’re all gonna meet in the living room.”

“She wants to talk to me? Or all of us?”

“Ah, I think all of us… you weren’t there, though, so she told me to go get you specifically.”

Monika heaves a sigh and stands up, walking over to the door. Sayori flashes her an enheartening smile, and although there’s an edge of nervousness to her voice, reassures her with an “It’ll be all right, okay?”

Monika nods. They step down the hallway and round the corner into the living room, where Yuri is seated on the couch and Natsuki perched on the edge of an armchair.

“O-oh, you’re here,” Yuri says. Monika sits down on the other armchair, leaving Sayori to find a place on the couch next to Yuri, and manages a tight smile.

“Yep. Sure am.”

“Um, have you eaten yet? There’s—”

“Yuri,” Natsuki butts in. “Cut to the chase, would you?” Yuri takes a deep breath.

“Well, anyways… we were talking and we think it would be best for us to go in separate directions.”

Silence.

Natsuki winces. “God, you didn’t have to cut to the chase  _ that _ much. You just went right in.”

Monika tilts her head. “You all decided on this?”

“Oh, um, it wasn’t, like, behind your back or anything!” Sayori says quickly. “Or I guess it was — but it wasn’t supposed to be, it’s just that you didn’t seem to want to talk and the topic just kind of came up.”

“Okay,” Monika says. Sayori shifts.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” Monika repeats. “If that’s what you guys think is the best route, then that’s what we’re doing.”

“Is that it?” Natsuki interjects. “We’ve been through all this shit as a group for, what, months now? You don’t even care about this?”

“I’m not going to argue with you guys about this. If you all want to split up, I’m not going to be able to hold this together, and if you’re going to resist I don't want to.”

There’s a pause. Monika tries to force herself to feel something.

“So i-it’s decided, then,” Yuri says hesitantly. 

“I guess so,” Sayori agrees quietly. Natsuki nods.

“I have friends kind of nearby who I could stay with,” she says. “So… y’know. I can leave any day now.”

“My cousins are about an hour away from here,” Sayori offers. The others all look to Monika.

“I’ll figure something out,” she says after a moment. The way the others look away makes her feel like they viewed her statement as a bigger deal than it actually was and that annoys her so she continues. “I’m pretty capable, y’know. It won’t be too hard.”

“We know,” Sayori says in just more than a whisper. “You’re really capable, Monika. You’re really strong and capable and I’m — I’m gonna miss that.”

“We haven’t split yet…,” Monika says, almost taken aback by the sudden wave of emotion. Sayori shakes her head somewhat.

“I’m… sorry things are ending like this,” Yuri says. “I really, really enjoyed all the time we’ve spent together, and I— I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Sayori looks like she’s dangerously close to either bursting into tears or pulling everyone into a group hug or both — probably both — but Natsuki speaks up and the emotional mood is practically shattered.

“God, you’re all fucking nerds,” she says in an almost-convincing bored tone, rolling her eyes despite the tears forming in them. “You know what? Let’s go out somewhere.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah. There’s gas in the car, right? Let’s go to that cliff you were talking about at lunch, Yuri.”

“I-I’m not against the idea, but it’s a bit late, isn’t it?” Yuri asks tentatively. Natsuki nods.

“Doesn’t matter, does it? And, I mean, if we’re all leaving soon, then we might as well get in a few more hangouts… or whatever. I mean, I don’t think that, but that’s probably what you saps are thinking anyways, so…”

“You love us,” Monika laughs. Natsuki crosses her arms but doesn’t seem to be able to find a snappy retort.

“I’m down for a night out!” Sayori exclaims, managing a watery smile and dragging a sleeve over her eyes. Monika finds herself grinning.

“Let’s go, then,” she says, standing up, and she’s suddenly reminded of another time, a day of ice cream and cutting class that seems like long ago. “And, hey...

“Here's to feeling normal again. At least for a short while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the update schedule is fuckin dead im sorry 
> 
> anywayssss since we’re getting a little close to the end of the fic (as much as i hate to say it :( ) there’s likely going to be a few multi-updates — im not sure when yet but i’ll let u guys know :-)


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